Deutsche Bahn is undergoing personnel changes and facing continued criticism regarding the elimination of family reservations, while simultaneously scaling back various services for children and their parents – a trend largely unnoticed by the public. These reductions are occurring alongside technical issues within the reservation system that particularly impact families.
A service known as “Kids on Tour” which provided accompaniment for unaccompanied minors in cooperation with the railway mission, was discontinued recently. Launched in 2003 and celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2018, the program quietly ended despite having facilitated approximately 100,000 bookings over its lifespan, with demand reportedly increasing. A spokesperson for Deutsche Bahn, Susanne Schulz, stated the service is currently “under review” and any future solutions will be announced.
In addition to the discontinued program, onboard childcare in long-distance trains has seen significant reduction. Currently, trained childcare providers offering crafts, games and storytelling are only available on 24 select long-distance routes on Sundays. Schulz confirmed the service is subject to regular adjustments. While the company advertised 3,000 trains per year offering childcare in 2017 – equivalent to 57 per week – that number has more than halved.
Families are also facing increased costs for seat reservations since mid-June. Furthermore, technical glitches within the reservation system are causing issues. The system currently allows individuals without children to reserve seats in family compartments. Conversely, parents travelling with children are sometimes automatically assigned seats in the “quiet zone” potentially leading to conflicts with other passengers.
Deutsche Bahn acknowledges these issues and states that efforts are underway to improve the automatic seat assignment process to better reflect individual passenger needs. They also aim to prevent non-families from reserving seats in designated family areas, stating further improvements are being implemented.
The company points out that, according to their terms of service (section A6.1) and ticket information, family compartments are reserved for passengers traveling with young children and must be made available to them if needed, even without a prior reservation.
Despite these changes, Deutsche Bahn maintains that it remains the most family-friendly rail operator in Germany and Europe, with children and young people up to and including the age of 14 continuing to travel free of charge on long-distance trains when accompanied by an adult. Approximately nine million children benefited from this policy last year, a reported increase of 50 percent compared to a decade ago.