In a nationwide comparison, Rhineland-Palatinate comes off the worst, around every 10th kilometer there is no fast mobile network – followed by Baden-Württemberg and Saxony. On the other hand, train travelers in Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen can surf the Internet undisturbed, where the coverage is 100 percent according to the authorities. In Schleswig-Holstein only every 80th kilometer is not supplied with high-speed mobile communications.

Interrupted phone calls and surfing at a snail’s pace annoy many rail passengers, said the FDP member of the Bundestag, Torsten Herbst. The numbers are an “absolute indictment of digitalization in Germany and a customer-friendly railway.

The Federal Ministry of Transport also sees the operators of railway lines and railway companies as having an obligation. These are required to ensure a reliable supply in the trains, for example by installing so-called repeaters, it said.

“The connection in the train can only be as good as it is on the outside of the respective section of the route. It is the task of the mobile network operators to ensure seamless network coverage along the rails, ”emphasized a spokesman for Deutsche Bahn.

In principle, the network operators should ensure nationwide mobile phone reception in Germany. In order to close radio gaps, especially in rural regions, the federal government announced in June that it would also support the construction of radio masts with 1.1 billion euros in the future. Technical modifications in trains are to be supported with 150 million euros. The aim is that the mobile phone no longer interferes with the train radio, said the railway spokesman. For this purpose, railway radios are now to be exchanged or upgraded in part. german railway lte