Berlin – Sit down, not paying attention – and the cell phone is gone. But there are no mobile phone thieves on these trains, the reason is quite different!
Because: Some seats in new regional trains of the East German railway company Odeg can become a mobile phone trap for passengers.
The RE1 line is affected, for example from Brandenburg an der Havel via Berlin to Frankfurt (Oder).
Many people know that there is no network on the train – but that the mobile phone suddenly got swallowed up?
The company Siemens Mobility announced on Wednesday that it could currently happen that flat objects lying on the seat slipped into a box when it was folded up. Passengers can then no longer approach the things that have disappeared in the box. Passengers complained that they were so her had lost their cell phone.
It is all about three folding seats, which in the Desiro HC trains from Siemens each bordered the universal toilets suitable for the disabled, as Siemens Mobility announced. The seats are attached to the floor of the wagon, the box houses the attachment.
Cell phone gone – now what?
The Berlin Passenger Association advised to attach stickers to warn passengers. In addition, the box on the seats must be unscrewed promptly in order to quickly return objects that have sunk into it, said a spokesman for the association.
The Ostdeutsche Eisenbahngesellschaft Odeg wants to temporarily react to the mobile phone trap in new trains with a mobile operation team. Passengers should no longer have to wait weeks for items that have slipped through a narrow slit in some seats to be released.
Previously, passengers had to wait weeks for their mobile phones – now it should at least be a little faster…
Managing Director Stefan Neubert called a mobile team on Thursday as a possible “emergency solution”. The prerequisite is that the box on the folding seats, which can become a cell phone trap, can be opened easily. One or two employees could be available to return missing items to passengers more quickly, Neubert told the German Press Agency. This cannot be done while the company is running.
But there is no cell phone directly!
Passengers would then no longer have to wait a few weeks but only a few days for their missing cell phone, for example.
At the end of this week, on Monday at the latest, the manufacturer Siemens wants to present a concept for a solution, said Neubert. “We need a permanent solution. But that won’t be over in a few days,” said Neubert. A sticker with the note “Caution mobile phone trap” is not the truth. The inscription “Digital Detox Sitze” (in German: digital detoxification) was also discarded, said Neubert jokingly.
It remains unclear by when a permanent structural change can be implemented…