Table of contents
- Report: DB Autozug in a self-experiment In a train
- Duck your head – otherwise the loading is completely unspectacular
- Couchette has something from youth hostel charm with the corresponding party potential
- I have never experienced such a relaxed atmosphere as in DB Autozug on the “normal” train
- The buzzwords gasoline and hotel costs, tolls and square tires
- Info DB Autozug
Klaus Herder
to travel
Report: DB Autozug
Report: DB Autozug in a self-experiment
In a train
Overnight non-stop by motorcycle from Hamburg to Bolzano – the DB Autozug makes it possible. A frequent railroader who had mutated into a rail hater in day-to-day business tried out whether this was really such a great idea.
Klaus Herder
06/06/2013
I don’t spend my meager free time as a model railroad collector or trainspotter. I never wanted to be a train driver either. For me, the railway is a purely pragmatic thing. One thing that I’ve learned to hate as a long-distance commuter: I only say “delayed availability” or “operational delays”. It may well be that the club is on time 80 percent of the time – I get the remaining 20 percent on every second tour. In a thousand cold winters, I would never have thought of going on vacation by train. Never!
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Until I met Olaf Gebauer at Intermot 2012. Olaf is responsible for marketing and sales at DB Autozug GmbH, so he has to think that traveling by train is great from a professional point of view and has to tell everyone that. But Olaf is also a motorcyclist who has absolutely nothing of the style of the old federal railroader dyed in the wool. And Olaf spoke fateful words: “Before I text you here, just try it out. Let’s go on a tour with the motorcycles and by car train. “
Duck your head – otherwise the loading is completely unspectacular
Herder
Men in Orange: These nice men know exactly how to reliably secure motorcycles.
A good six months later, we meet on a Friday afternoon at the check-in at Hamburg-Altona train station. Olaf comes with his Yamaha XJR 1300 from Dortmund, the headquarters of DB Autozug GmbH. I came from Stuttgart with the long-term test Honda CBR 600 F. In the coming night we want to travel together to Bozen / Italy by car train. In addition to us, six Scandinavians and an Englishman want to take a motorbike to South Tyrol by motorbike. 25 car drivers and appendices – mostly retirees and families, as well as classic car owners and motorcyclists, the typical Autozug target groups – are also drawn to the spring sun. In Hildesheim we will get another motorcycle and eleven cars, which makes 90 travelers who can be enjoyed by seven railway employees on the way.
But we’re not that far yet. First of all, the vehicles have to get on the transport wagons – a certain challenge for DB Autozug newcomers, at least in terms of their heads. And that in the truest sense of the word, because a clearance height of 1.58 meters means that it makes sense to wear a helmet when loading. “Better to take off the tank bag, I’ll take care of the good piece for so long” – the tip of loadmaster Nils Lubbert should be followed as much as possible, because every centimeter of the head retraction reserve is worth gold. Otherwise the loading is completely unspectacular. And the lashing of the motorcycles – perhaps the biggest concern for Autozug newbies like me – works without any problems and, above all, without damage. You can tell Nils and his boys clearly that they have been doing the job a little longer.
Couchette has something from youth hostel charm with the corresponding party potential
Herder
The couchette car: during the day it is a normal five-person compartment, at night the beds are folded down
While our motorcycles were still parked in the immediate vicinity of the track in the middle of the Altona train station (and thus in the direct access area for the travel agent), the men each attached four belt loops, in which the tension belts are then hung later. If you want, you can also give the loading staff very personal fastening tips, which is definitely welcomed. But you can also completely leave the matter to the professionals, which was not a mistake with our motorcycles and the machines of the fellow travelers: The sweethearts are bombproof and scratch-free on their side stands.
It is time to go to the mobile overnight accommodation. Olaf has booked two alternatives for us: couchette and sleeping car – “You should get to know everything.” Three quarters of the fellow travelers chose the air-conditioned, rustic, cozy couchette car. It’s just cheaper. And much funnier, at least for group dynamic motorcyclists. During the day it is a normal five-person compartment, at night the beds are folded down. Toilet and shower at the end of the wagon – that has something of youth hostel charm with the corresponding party potential.
I have never experienced such a relaxed atmosphere as in DB Autozug on the “normal” train
Herder
The luxury variant: the sleeping car
If you want something a little more luxurious, choose the sleeping car. These are mostly three-person compartments, some of which can be extended to the suite via a connecting door. Washing facilities, breakfast and a welcome red wine are included. Josef Peter, a Hungarian by birth, trained blacksmith and has been on the road for Deutsche Bahn for around 30 years, will serve it right on time for departure at 6:20 p.m. Josef is the “soul of man and perfect host” type. He is humorous, incredibly relaxed and in a good mood even late at night.
And Josef is no exception, which brings me to the most surprising aspect of my DB Autozug premiere: I don’t want to offend my colleagues in DB long-distance transport, who are probably just as hard-working, but I have such a relaxed atmosphere as at DB Autozug in the “normal “Never seen a train before. Is it perhaps because the DB Autozug audience is in a holiday mood? Or the fact that when traveling through the night, thanks to certain travel time reserves, every minute doesn’t count and the arrival in Bolzano at 9.48 a.m. the next morning is still very punctual? Anyway, I find myself spending a lot more time with Olaf than the usual 30 minutes in the dining car during the day, so that I don’t get annoyed about the microwave fried potatoes in the “farmer’s pan” (6.60 euros) and that much more than a delicious wheat beer (0.5 l for 4.20 euros).
The buzzwords gasoline and hotel costs, tolls and square tires
Herder
A big heart for bikers: Petra Topp (46) ensures Beck’s supplies even at a very late hour.
Olaf tells me about the challenges of the car train business, about the strong seasonal fluctuations, about deficit connections and the associated terminal closings, about the price driver for foreign rail costs (an example: every train to Narbonne costs a well-known five-digit euro amount in France alone), but also about one very loyal regular customers and, of course, the tangible Autozug benefits from an entry price of 99 euros. The key words include gasoline and hotel costs, tolls and square tires.
We are moving the topic of DB Autozug up and down and back again. And then we are just quiet and just look out the window of the dining car for a long time. The landscape moves by, much more slowly than on the ICE. Night falls, the next wheat is in the works. And I old train hater suddenly find train travel really great. Sounds cheesy? It’s cheesy. But why shouldn’t a vacation start out cheesy? Or come to an end – Olaf and I put it to the test the next day. The motorcycle takes you from Bolzano to Munich and from there by car train back to Hamburg overnight. This time Josef is called Petra.
Info DB Autozug
Herder
Almost unspectacular: start up the motorbikes, duck your head, let it be lashed, finished.
DB Autozug GmbH is a 100 percent subsidiary of DB Fernverkehr AG. In addition to the car trains, the night train business, the Sylt Shuttle, the shipping and island railway Wangerooge and the personnel service provider DB European Railservice belong to the DB Autozug Group, for which a total of around 1,100 employees work. Around 45 connections are served by 153 vehicles (80 vehicle transport cars, 21 sleeping and 45 couchette cars and seven dining cars). Car trains run from seven German terminals (e.g. Hamburg, Munich, Lorrach). The foreign destinations: Innsbruck, Schwarzach, Villach (Austria); Alessandria, Bolzano (Italy); Narbonne (France). Info: www.bahn.de/autozug
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