Deutsche Bahn ensures smooth running, high-quality train services and strict punctuality for VIP passengers only, German magazine SPIEGEL has revealed.

Deutsche Bahn favours VIP passengers

Following interviews done with Deutsche Bahn staff by German magazine SPIEGEL, it has been revealed that the train company prioritises high quality service for trains carrying celebrities and politicians. According to SPIEGEL, if staff at Deutsche Bahn recognise the name on a passenger booking to be that of a famous person, all relevant engineers, train drivers, on-board restaurant staff, signal control staff and conductors are informed of the booking.

In advance of the VIP’s travel date the train is cleaned top to bottom inside and outside. According to an internal Deutsche Bahn document obtained by SPIEGEL, ahead of the journey the train is also set up with “all necessary consumables, functioning technical components, the correct carriage order and regular staffing”.  Signal staff who are working are also instructed to make sure that the train meets a wave of green lights all the way to its destination, meaning that the company ensures punctuality when a VIP is onboard. This summer the Deutsche Bahn punctuality rate fell to 12-year low, so this is a standard that many customers of Deutsche Bahn are not familiar with.

All of these rules are included in Deutsche Bahn’s so-called “special provision travel” guidelines. According to SPIEGEL, under these rules staff accompanying VIPs are also entitled to request unscheduled stops, grant payments for food and drink and cancel any loudspeaker announcements they please. While the travel company defended the service, Stefan Gelbhaar, Green party politician and member of the train supervisory council, told the magazine, “Trains are there for everyone. Special treatment rules for VIPs should be scrapped immediately.”

No VIP train treatment in Switzerland

The federal rail service of Switzerland, SBB, has stated that on their journeys there exists no special treatment for VIP passengers and that the company is not aware when a celebrity or politician is travelling with them. “For the SBB security, reliability and punctuality are of the highest importance, independent of who is travelling with us,” the company said to SPIEGEL.

The only exception is in the case of an official federal council trip or a journey made by the Swiss National Council President Irène Kälin. Here, SBB said, punctuality is a priority, but not so much as to disrupt the timetable of other trains.