Developer from Chemnitz roasts expansion of Chemnitz-Leipzig railway line with satirical online game

Anyone who regularly travels between Chemnitz and Leipzig on the Mitteldeutsche Regiobahn (MRB) is familiar with the problems on this route: frequent train cancellations or delays, and often rail replacement services because—apparently at short notice—something is being built somewhere on the route (does anyone actually know what?!). At least the first battery-powered trains have been running on the route since the end of January. The double-track expansion, on the other hand, continues to be delayed.

Recently, after the last so-called rail summit on this topic with all the relevant players from politics and business, a new browser-based game with the same name suddenly appeared: Bahngipfel (Rail Summit). It can be found at https://www.bahngipfel.de, where it can also be played for free.

But be careful before you all visit the site: The game, with its wonderfully retro pixel graphics, is a real danger for procrastination. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

So, what’s it all about? In the online game Bahngipfel, it’s your turn (sorry for the pun, we couldn’t resist) to expand the Leipzig-Chemnitz railway line to two tracks and electrify it. At the beginning of the game, you have a certain budget at your disposal, which you can use for the necessary renovation of individual sections of the line or for the double-track expansion and subsequent electrification.

What sounds simple at first is torpedoed by citizens’ initiatives or efforts by the federal transport minister, among other things, which suddenly pop up—because depending on your decision, costs are incurred and you make yourself popular or unpopular.

And just like that, your budget is already used up; you can’t continue renovating or expanding.
But don’t worry, that doesn’t mean the game is over. You simply call a rail summit and publish a press release containing as many buzzwords as possible. The more vague and incomprehensible the press release is, the more budget you get. You can continue building. For now.

And so the years pass very quickly in the game, many years… Just like the expansion of the line in real life. At the same time, however, the satirical game is so entertaining that you enjoy spending time with it. We don’t want to accuse anyone of anything, but who knows whether those involved in the expansion of the line feel the same way about their task.

Incidentally, it is not clear who exactly is behind the game. MDR reported that the game developer works for a Chemnitz-based software development company but does not want to be named. Allegedly, he was so frustrated with the sluggish expansion and delays that he vented his frustration with this wonderful satirical game. We think it’s a great way to deal with frustration.