More staff for cleaner trains and stations
DB Management Board Member Huber: “Taking the train is safe”
Deutsche Bahn is launching a hygiene and cleanliness campaign. Additional cleaning staff and modified cleaning plans will help keep passengers safe on trains and at stations even during the coronavirus pandemic. Beginning mid-week, DB will increase cleaning staff on long-distance trains, doubling the number of staff who clean ICE and IC trains during journeys to 500 by July. It will increase the number of these travelling cleaning staff to 600 by August.
“The only way to protect ourselves from the coronavirus is to protect each other,” said Berthold Huber, Member of the DB Management Board responsible for Passenger Transport. “We are cleaning our trains and stations more than ever before. Taking the train is safe. We are also asking passengers to do their part. If everyone follows hygiene and mask guidelines, all of us will make it to our destination safe and sound.”
Over 4,300 employees throughout Germany make sure that trains and stations are clean each day. Deutsche Bahn spends hundreds of millions of euros a year on hygiene and cleaning, and that figure will be even higher this year.
Long-distance trains will be cleaned when prepared for service at depots and every two hours while in service. DB Regio trains will be cleaned an average of three times a day, or more frequently on busy lines.
Cleaning will focus on contact surfaces: door buttons, handles and grab poles. These surfaces are being cleaned multiple times during journeys and at reversing stations. DB employees are also cleaning door handles, handrails and control systems at ticket and snack machines at stations more frequently.
Customers can now wash their hands free of charge at washrooms at 20 major stations. Free disinfectant will be available from dispensers at 180 stations and 150 service stores. Floor markers have been placed in front of DB Information counters, Travel Centres and many businesses at stations to remind people to maintain a safe distance.
All DB employees who have contact with customers are required to wear a face covering. DB has already bought 19 million masks to make sure of it. On-board bistros on ICE trains have masks available for purchase for passengers who forget theirs.
Customers can take advantage of contactless ticketing and buy tickets at bahn.de or in DB Navigator. Ticket inspection on trains is also contactless. Passengers also have the option of using Komfort-Check-in on many long-distance trains, eliminating the need for an inspector to check tickets.
Fact sheet hygiene measures for safe travel: https://bit.ly/36uOtR2
(Source: DB)
