omg omg omg omg it might* finally happen: I will travel between Denmark and Germany in a Talgo train!
*I mean, it's 40min until departure so it might still be cancelled / exchanged / explode / vanish.
No seat reservation btw. Has not been possible at any time for me. Still not sure if seats are sold out or if it's just DSB.
Edit: I already miss the worm #train
Edit2: this thread became a #review ;-)
Hmm. I guess I wont be using this entrance.
Didn't want to go to Pen Hagen anyway (it doesn't scroll)
"Hoppla!wir haben.."
Seriously "meh" for getting basic stuff like well written public facing error messages wrong.
I wonder if they just cancelled the thing.
In the train. Super interesting as according to the train information system the entire train is.. first class!
This truly is the future of travel. Talgo must just be that good!
People have actually asked me to #review the #Talgo train btw. So consider this thread that review.
I do like that I can see my bicycle (white bag) in the oddly impractical storage area (sides are too low, metal frame makes non-solid boxes wobble).
First announcement was just made over the intercom. Welcome and someone left a bag wrong. Nothing about the seating situation which literally every passenger is confused about.
The intercom is with so much echo that it's barely audible.
We're moving!
We left on schedule.
To the minute!
And apparently the train is not overloaded. Everyone has a seat.
It's admittedly cool to look through the open corridors and see that metro style worming! At speed that must be loud though. I bet the group of 55 loud girls can be heard in half the train.
The ride over switches is ROUGH. Bumpy but also much louder than I expect in a modern train (or the 50yr old old DB IC carriages that used to drive this route).
There's a lot of little things that honestly made me wonder how the user testing was done.
Near me is a family with a small child, a young toddler. The poor thing is now crying as the cormer of the table is barely rounded and on head level.
Many tall adults will also punch into it with their hips on busy days when trying to pass each other
The intercom is bizarre. I have never in my life been in a train with a worse intercom system. Utterly embarrassing for #DSB, #DB and #Talgo. I just cannot hear what the staff is saying. And this is throughout the train.
Here's a video showing the info screens (ok, although the info is incorrect). The sound is exactly as it is in the train.
Wagens 25 (luggage), 24 and 23 are locked. Good luck if you brought a stroller as (from experience) DSB staff will harass you for putting it anywhere else.
This is the info on the seats.
One of the Dutch girls actually showed me her reservation for this seat. And then walked off as she got yelled at by her peers "IT'S FIRST CLASS, JUST LOOK AT IT!".
Very much people used to Dutch commuter trains ;-)
@jesper_linnet so not great information wise. But the route and delay info is accurate. Seems "external information" is actually good.
Creature comfort. Positive things:
- I like the seat. For real. But only when the bottom is extended/ back is tilted. It's no DSB IC3 chair but to me (about 190cm) it's more comfy than most ICE seats. Nice headrest
- excellent double electrical outlet designed to fit two chargers without blocking each other. Simply choice, big difference.
The ride is genuinely bumpy though. And I've been on these exact tracks a lot over the past years. None of the other train (ICE, IC3, IC couches, double deckers) have the feeling this Talgo has.
I find it difficult to describe. It's not like there's train-turbulence (even though at times there's a big bump). It kinda feels like the entire train is a bit loose on the tracks, at times sways a bit. And as if there's a high frequency tremble going through the consist.
Of this I'm not a fan.
Ok. I walked through the entire train. It's a very large bendy bus. A tunnel with chairs.
Everything is "ok". That makes for a fine commuter train.
But the problem is that "ok" is not ok when it doesn't work. Here some of those things:
-coffee machine (I looked forward to that) is out of order.
-multiple changing tables (ok ones) have broken safety straps.
-barely any space for non-standard luggage. Bike/stroller compartment is fully out of order.
-info systems are obviously dysfunctional
The changing table situation is pissing me off. They use buckle straps and I found three toilets* where the male part just isn't there.
Maybe they were never there, or maybe some people fumbled them off (they can just slide off, seriously cheap LIDL bags do better). As a parent who once dealt with a poopy one year old rolling around in a train changing tables: this should not happen.
I'll write to DSB about this.
*I got annoyed, checked every non-broken (there are two..) toilet.
Wifi (DSB_Wi-Fi) has crapped out a number of times btw.
Not the external connection to the internet (which on this route also happens in the other train types, so is probably an external issue) but the actual wifi connection to the access point.
Any idea if they use something different than in all other trains?
I'm not falling in love with this bus.
edit: train, not bus. Sorry. Easy mistake to make.
Ok. Nuance on the intercom situation. It's perfectly fine in the toilet!
Maybe it's the open plan space that causes the echo and odd muting.
Btw. The info screens stopped showing that we're all in first class. They now don't show the class at all. Except.. for quick flashes every 20 seconds or so.
In general the screen is not smooth. It's like the train animation resets ten pixels too far to the left and when it slides to a different info set (not shown on the video) there's a quarter second full freeze.
On a positive note: The train is still perfectly on schedule. The Siemens Vectron locomotive is doing fine.
Maybe Siemens should also consider building the passenger parts of trains 😃
We're now in Padborg. Here the Danish police will fondle our passport and apparently the train can also be exited in carriage 18 due to a platform height issue.
The past years I've twice been parked for two hours with an entire (dark, no airco or heating) train of people. Obviously the people get out to stretch their legs. I wonder what happens when this one-door-Talgo has to wait here: do they just lock in all passengers?
We're just now leaving Padborg (Danish border station). Half an hour wasted for 100s of people for no reason at all.
This in part shows why there's no point buying a fast train for this route: xenophobic Danes who don't even take the train will just majority vote for stricter "fuck you" measures.
On most days checks (if at all) on the highway cause a two or three minute delay.
The Talgo systems reset to fully showing 1st class again btw. I just asked DSB for my free water and coffee. No luck.
Just a note on this new train: compared to the previous rolling stock the prices went UP. In part as it's now considered by DB to be a premium route.
Even when they put replacement rolling stock on the route, have non-functional coffee machines, crap info systems and no seat reservations the passengers still pay the premium for a bad service (also: only once every two hrs).
It *should* be something Danish and (northern) German politicians are up in arms about. Unfortunately it's crickets.
Look at that! The little lamp on my chair turned on again! I'd left the button on as I was curious.
Maybe there's actually a thermal protection that after about two hours did a reset (bit long..).
Or maybe there's actually a bad connection.
Uhm. There's a lot of people standing with their luggage etc. I just realised it's because the information system is incorrectly saying we'll arrive in Kolding right about one minute ago.
In reality we're at least 15 minutes away.
This shows another major issue with this train on this route: when (not if) it overflows all paths are completely blocked as there's no nooks for people and luggage to go into. It's just seats, exit doors and a narrow corridor.
Ok. We're ten minutes away from Kolding / my little Hobbit and their mom @juliette
Quick summary of what I think of the DSB Talgo train: when it gets out of beta it'll be a decent yet boring train for trips of an hour or so.
For this route, where many people are inside for five to six hours, it's absolutely the wrong train. Uncomfortably, not capable of dealing with overflow & tiring (loud, no nooks).
Edit: "the wrong train" but much better than flying etc.
@sorenhave A member of the train staff told me she at least feel like way more than in the past she has little incidents where she stumbles, gets thrown of balance etc.
I'm sure there's good measurements (any idea #BahnBubble?) and some of it might be perception (the entire train being a large corridor I would not be surprised if some people get motion sickness). But at least to me it's noticeable.
@jesper_linnet :-D I had hoped to do it with our toddler but I can't deny that I'm still genuinely excited.
The only other time I was in a DSB Talgo was before they were handed over to DSB. And not capable of driving.
@Pepijn I guess it's debatable whether the latter part has changed that much😀
I will happily read a follow-up review with a Hobbit test
Pepijn
Søren Have
Asser Schrøder Femø
Jesper Kamstrup Linnet
Matt[ingham] 
Mar
Ciara
Astrid