If you want German efficiency, go to Switzerland. That is what they say in Germany these days, anyway, and there is distressing proof of it on the once-matchless German railways. As I sought to reach Lübeck in time for a decent dinner, my train came to a sullen stop somewhere near Essen, menacing a key connection. Pleasant staff did what they could, just as they do here, but from then on the journey was as doomed as any in Britain.
Essen station itself was shabby, with cracked panes of glass and a general air of having seen better days. And so it has. The old West Germany of the 1980s, lapped in wealth and satisfaction, has begun to peel and rust, and the bruised bones of the country are showing through. If this does not worry you, it should.
