Freiburg-Breisach railway line
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How fast time goes by! If you remember the events of 2021 at the turn of the year, you will hear this statement particularly often. But there is another way: Time is not only racing, it can also be stretched. Nobody has to think their way into Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity – a train ride is enough. Frequent travelers suspect what we’re talking about: From the Breisgau S-Bahn. A small example from this week: The train to Breisach leaves Freiburg with a one-minute delay. At the Gottenheim train station, the train and its patient passengers not only wait for the usual uncoupling of the part of the train to Endingen, but also for an oncoming train. The onward journey is delayed again by a few minutes. We suspect that could take a while! What the heck, with a good book time flies by like … well, not exactly like that. More like slow motion. With ten minutes plus, the train suddenly rushes over Wasenweiler and Ihringen to its destination in Breisach. Meanwhile, an electronic information board shows the difference between the planned arrival time and the actual arrival with the accuracy of a physical measuring instrument: 12 minutes. But that’s not all. When I finally arrived in Breisach, the doors in the wagons didn’t work. You don’t move a millimeter. The look in the face of the apparently more experienced rail customers in front of the stubborn doors warns of cheerful serenity: “It’ll be fine!” Indeed: Now the train driver hurries from one end of the train to the other and speaks of “driver’s cab”, “defect” and “towing” as he passes by. Would it have been better to sit still and immerse yourself in your book? Does not matter. At some point the beep will sound and the train will release its passengers into the open.
A journey of 26 minutes becomes an experience of 40 minutes. “Gained” over 50 percent more travel time, and that with a constant route length. If you are not in a hurry, you can definitely enjoy slowing down in the tightly timed everyday life. It’s good that the fare remains constant and has not expanded in line with the increase in travel time.
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