I have to admit that buses and trains were not a passion I could trace back to my childhood interests. Born in the eastern part of a divided Germany where owning a car was a luxury, taking the train was always just a means to get from point A to point B.
In theory, mobility is described as a desire for change of location. At 18, when I got my driver’s license, I couldn’t imagine anything more beautiful than exploring the city by car. Warm summer evenings, loud music, and friends in the back seat.
When I began my apprenticeship as an energy electronics technician, I followed my grandparents‘ wish to learn a practical and meaningful profession. The best choice was the Magdeburg Public Transport Company. „Grandma, I’ll tell you one thing. I won’t become a tram driver,“ I said to her, but three years later, at 21, when I, the youngest train driver in the company, picked her up with my train at the Leipziger Chaussee terminal, the pride in her eyes was evident.
From that point on, spiral began to turn, deepening my passion for public transport. Now, as I find myself spending more time on trains, I can’t understand why I wasn’t passionate about this topic from an early age.
Passenger transport is such a beautiful system, doing so much for society, enabling many people to fulfill their desire for change of location, yet so fragile and sensitive that it requires passionate individuals to keep it running smoothly. From the train driver to the track builder to the people who spend their days winding coils for relays in the signal boxes.
I never thought I could develop such a deep passion for it, but hey, here we are, and i am happy with that.
This reflection was written on the RE1 from Magdeburg Neustadt to Berlin Ostkreuz, a train full of people of all ages who accept this product as indispensable and self-evident, just as I did as a child. A product, a service is deemed good when people trust in it.