GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn has opened the first of 25 redesigned station travel centres at Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof.
Features include a larger reception area with staff who can deal quickly with minor queries, a more inviting waiting area, and information on approximate waiting times, with the option to have a digital queueing ticket sent to a mobile phone. There are improvements for people with reduced mobility, including height adjustable counters for wheelchair users, an induction loop, tactile strips on the floor, Braille and tactile route guidance. The furniture has warm natural tones based on DB’s lounges and ICE trains.
‘The DB travel centres are an important personal contact point for our customers. In the future, we want to combine the best of both worlds: personal advice and digital services’, said Stefanie Berk, Head of Marketing & Sales at long-distance business unit DB Fernverkehr, on September 19.
’We are investing €60m nationwide in the redesign of the travel centres at the 25 busiest stations. Four out of five long-distance travellers use these 25 stations every day and will therefore benefit from many innovations in a new feel-good atmosphere.’
The travel centres in Nürnberg, Göttingen, Berlin, Mannheim and Köln will be the next to be modernised, with work due for completion in 2024.
