The week with the last late shift before my holiday is over, finally. I don’t like the late shift because the whole day is over. In the morning you only can wait to the shift and after 8 pm all shops are closed and other public and non public buildings. I only suffer the late shift. I only know that in my next job I never will do a late shift until 8 pm.

I must take the train at 8.13 pm (railway line RE2). From my workplace to the airport railway station the distance is about 1,2 km with my bike.

After my arrival at 9.10 pm (according as the local train is on time or not) I check some mails and news and go to bet at 10.15 pm. That is my normal time to go to bed every day. In Summer then I get up at 5 or 6 am. I’m the only one in my company who does the late shift, has a regularly journey home about 1 hour and 10 minutes.

When I do not leave the company on time at 8 pm then my journey home will protract to more time because the next train departs at 8.27 pm (and this train line is never on time) and then I’m more later at home as usually.

Even the train at 8.13 pm arrives never on time at Essen main station because it must wait regularly in Duisburg main station to other trains. In most cases another local train line (RE5 now operated by National train) or the long-distance traffic (in most cases my train must wait to these two trains. The exit of Duisburg main only has one rail for all trains in direction Oberhausen and Mülheim.

Yesterday evening the long-distance train (IC) had a delay about 20 minutes – that is normal in Germany, all long-distance trains have a delay – the punctuality was around 69 % in the month June 2019. The German railway company Deutsche Bahn AG has a big problem with the weather, in summer it is too hot and in winter too cold, in autumn the trees are the problem.

In a lot of S-Bahn train the air-conditioning system does not work. It only operates until 35 degrees and if the temperature is higher, they don’t work. For this reason a lot of wagons must be repaired and not operated in the normal traffic. That means that the wagons are overcrowded with people in the rush hour. A repair takes normally one or two weeks.

Yes this is Germany and not India or an African country.

The train had a delay about 5 minutes (this is nothing as in other countries but the other rich countries (for example the Netherlands) the delay is more less than in Germany.

Mostly when the RE2 has a big delay (more than 15 minutes) the Deutsche Bahn AG cancels the station Düsseldorf airport and Düsseldorf main station and the RE2 stops at Duisburg main station. That means for me the train at 8.13 pm does not depart and I must wait to a later train and if the RE1 at 8.27 pm also has a big delay then I arrive more later at home.

An outage of the RE2 at Düsseldorf airport at 8.13 pm (or 6.13 pm) was in the past on every two or three days.

In Summer it is warm on the platform but in winter when it is cold?

In my shifts (early shift and normal shift) then it is not so a big problem as in the late shift at 8 pm. That is the reason because I want to do the late shift in my job.

In the past (I never had this late shift before) I was regularly in sports clubs (where I had a lot of times a honorary post) and learned new languages and computer sciences in the adult education centre etc.. When I have regularly the late shift for the company it is good (the employee is very flexible and it is nice for our money) but for the individual it is not nice.

My contract will end on 09/30/2020 and I never extend it. I like my job but not with all (negative) conditions. Finally it is weekend and I can do what I want to do :-).