Bananas, bananas, chemicals, stuff, bananas, cars, cars, coal, coal, gravel, bananas, freight, freight.
Germany always strikes me as a busy place or is it because I am usually on the Rhine which is flanked by a railway on either side?
Ten years ago, I wrote a textbook about the European Union which meant I had to write about every member state of the EU. Much of the information was second hand as I had not visited every corner of the EU and this was not a high-profile celebrity travel book with a huge budget. I remember writing with some scepticism about the importance of the European canal network but now that I come to Germany so often I can appreciate what an artery the Rhine is for commercial traffic in the way that the British canal system simply is not, reduced as it is to a picturesque tourist attraction. I was told also that the German freight rail system is what makes a profit for German railways rather than passenger traffic and after being kept awake in my hotel by freight trains rumbling through the night, I can well believe it.
