We had the opportunity to try out the German rail system recently, and I have to report that we had a mixed experience on German trains.
Upon arrival into Dresden on a Eurocity service out of Prague we decided to transfer to German Intercapital Express (ICE) trains for the rest of the trip to Berlin.

- ICE Train at Platform
These ICE trains offer a whole new level of comfort and service onto the German rail system, as well as offering a smooth and quiet way to travel between major cities in minimal time.
ICE trains first entered service in 1991. They have a distinctive design and livery for which Deutsch Bahn has registered the design elements. These trainsets are very well configured internally for the comfort and convenience of passengers, and include such things as luggage storage bays in most carriages, adjustable seating, piped music to all seats and seat back video screens in many first class carriages. Many ICE trains also have wireless internet and mobile phone access enabled for those who feel unable to do without such amenities during a trip.

ICE Train interior
Interior design is also a special feature with these trains. Colours have been chosen to offer a restful travelling environment, and lighting is subdued. Indeed in some carriages the interior is quite similar to that of an aircraft (although more comfortable and much quieter).
Travel on ICE trains is very pleasant, although it can at times be difficult to take photographs out of the side windows because everything is whooshing past so quickly that many objects appear blurred when the photo is examined (one of the joys of having digital cameras available nowadays).
We took one ICE service from Dresden to Leipzig and another service from Leipzig into Berlin Hauptbahnhof. We do enjoy traveling on these trains!
As is always expected with Deutsch Bahn services, departure and arrival times were exactly on time (indeed you can usually set your watch based on arrivals and departures of trains in Germany.
On this part of our journey, everything operated with typical German precision.
However, on our final day in Germany, their trains let us down.
We had decided to book on a Deutsch Bahn City Night Line service from Berlin to Heidelberg. Because we wanted the opportunity to compare this sleeper service with that offered on the Elipsos trains that operate between Spain, France and Italy we booked a similar class of travel. We selected a first class sleeper with shower facilities and were hoping that the trip would provide an enjoyable conclusion to our travel adventures on trains in Germany.
Unfortunately this was not to be!
We waited on the platform at Berlin Hauptbahnhof for the train to arrive at the station … and waited, while many other trains arrived and departed on other platforms.

City Night Line Double Decker Carriage
The train eventually rolled in nearly 30 minutes behind schedule. We then went to our allotted carriage and boarded (along with many many other passengers). Once on board, we worked our way gradually along the passageway to find our cabin. Unfortunately, the nominated cabin number couldn’t be found.
At this stage, we didn’t understand what was happening, and had to wait in a queue to speak with the conductor. We were simply told that our cabin number had changed, and were shown to a lower level cabin (it was a double decker carriage). Upon climbing down, we were very surprised to see that we were obviously in a second class cabin, with no shower, no toilet, and practically no room. This certainly wasn’t what we had ordered and paid for.
Eventually we managed to locate the conductor again, and were told that due to an equipment fault, the carriage had been changed at the last moment, and because the train was full, we had no other alternative. We had been given the use of two adjacent 2nd class cabins, so that we could sit in one and sleep in the other.
With a grumpy disposition but little other option, we had to make the most of the situation. We were aware that the train was about half an hour behind time, but hoped that this could be made up during the trip. However, the train again stopped about 45 minutes out of Berlin, and stood stationary for another half hour or so.
With the train now running an hour late, we now realised that it would be impossible for us to make our connection to another train in Heidelberg. This looked as though it would prevent us from boarding our KD Rhine cruise down the Rhine River from Mainz.
We ended up having to leave our City Night Line train at Mannheim station at about 5:30 in the morning, and attempt to find other trains to get us to Mainz.
The service we had hoped to catch was cancelled, and we needed to look for options on other trains. We eventually boarded an ICE train heading to Frankfurt Airport, reasoning that this station was on a main line down the Rhine River, and that it may be simpler to catch trains from here to Mainz.
After following the signage and asking a Deutsch Bahn attendant how to find the platform for connecting trains, we duly dragged our luggage from platform 2 down to platform 7, arriving about 15 minutes before the train to Mainz was due.
Surely our trials and tribulations with Deutsch Bahn were now over.
However, the arrival time came and went, with no trains. We later found out that the trains had been diverted to another platform, but without any platform announcement. The next train wasn’t due for another 30 minutes, and we would miss the boat.
Eventually, after hauling our belongings back up to platform 2, we were able to find another service that was able to get us to Mainz, but with only 15 minutes to spare before the scheduled departure of our boat.
I have to report that this sequence of events hasn’t resulted in our being such staunch supporters of the German railway system.
I suppose it might be correct to report that the system works like clockwork for most of the time, but that when things begin to go wrong, the performance of the system really starts to fall over very badly.
Certainly, I couldn’t recommend that any of our readers consider travelling on any night trains in Germany given our experience with this service.