DB, you are on my list!

The Deutsche Bahn (the German railway) is now on my shit list!

Meet the CNL 319. CNL 319 is an overnight train that is (or used to be) handy for traveling from Duesseldorf (and a few other cities in the area) to Munich. It's a handy train because it is all kitted out for sleeping the night, it even stops for an hour or so after picking up all of it's night passengers so that people can get to sleep and so and it arrives in Munich at the extremely civil time of 7:20 in the morn. The CNL 319 also connects with the EC 81 that departs Munich at 7:30, which gives about enough time to grab some food and an OJ from one of the stalls at Munich HBF as you walk between the platforms. The EC 81 travels through Innsbruck, arriving at 9:20 in the morn.

The CNL 319/EC 81 combo is a pretty useful for me. My girlfriend is living in Duesseldorf at the moment. So, if I want to spend a weekend with her I often catch these trains to get back home. With these trains I can get a half-decent night's sleep, and make it into the office by 10 AM, just in time to check my email before our weekly group meeting.

Cutting to the chase: THE F^%#ING CNL 319 WAS 3 HOURS LATE LAST NIGHT!

I was at the train platform with 10 minutes to spare (pretty good for me. It had a lot to do with the fact that Sarah was there with me, but that's another story) and a notice went over the PA (in German) saying that the train had been delayed by 30 minutes. I was a little pissed, but not too much, I knew that 30 minutes wouldn't really delay the train by that much (cause I knew that the train actually stops for a good chunk of the trip to let everyone sleep). Over the next 3 hours they updated that sign every 15 minutes or so, adding another 15 minutes to the expected arrival time!

If they had told us outright that the train would be 3 hours late, I would have demanded my money back, gone back to Sarah's, and caught a train early in the morning. I would have been pissed being late to work in the morning but at least I could get a decent night's sleep. Instead, the bastard's dragged it out over 3 hours. Everyone that was waiting would walk up to the platform every 15 minutes, hopeful that this time they might actually get into a nice warm train and finally to sleep, only to hear another announcement that the train still wasn't coming...

Anyway, needless to say, I got about 4 hours sleep and missed my connection in the morning by a good 2 hours. Pricks.