West Germany: Love Those Rails

As vacationing West Germans flocked to and from their cities last week, 150 extra trains rolled across the country between the Baltic coast and the Alps. Although Germany has one of the highest automobile densities in Europe—one car for every eight people—travel still means trains. And trains in Germany mean Deutsche Bundesbahn, the federal railway whose reasonable fares, remarkable luxury and religiously on-time operation make it a favorite of the German people. With 19,000 track miles, the Bundesbahn is not only one of the West's largest railway systems—it was put together in 1920 from a dozen-odd separate lines—but one...

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