What does "Ruhebereich" (quiet zone) mean on German ICE trains?

10/19/2022 3:34:33 PM

Here’s what DB says about them:

Ruhebereich
Für Fahrgäste, die sich mehr Ruhe und Entspannung wünschen, haben wir unsere Ruhezonen optimiert. Sie befinden sich entweder in Abteilen, den ICE Lounges (Abteile hinter dem Fahrzeugführer) oder in kompletten Wagen.
In diesem Bereich sind Handytelefonate, Klingeltöne, lautes Musikhören (auch via Kopfhörer) oder sonstige lärmende Tätigkeiten nicht erwünscht.

I couldn’t find an equivalent page on the English site, so I’ll do a rough translation myself:

Quiet zone
Our quiet zones are optimised for passengers who want more peace and quiet. They can be found in compartments, ICE lounges or in whole carriages. In these areas, phone calls, ringtones, loud music (including through headphones) and other loud activities are not welcome.

In principle, people shouldn’t be making phone calls or having loud conversations in the Ruhebereich. It’s not a silent zone and you shouldn’t be surprised if passengers travelling together talk to each other, but it is a quiet zone and they should make an effort to keep their voices down while doing so.

If other passengers are being noisy (as opposed to just not being silent), you’d be well within your rights to point out where they are and ask them to adjust their volume/location. But I’ve not had to do this personally and couldn’t tell you how it’s likely to be received. I would note that I find the signage not especially clear (relatively small stickers in places you probably aren’t paying attention to when trying to find seats, especially if doing so with small children in tow!). I can easily imagine that a lot of those not respecting the quiet zone simply don’t realise they’re in one at all.

10/20/2022 2:12:03 PM

Don’t expect anything. It’s sad but true; if I had time to think about it, I would probably come up with dozens of examples where Germans just ignore rules that are not enforced by anyone.

I’m not sure how many people are aware that there are "quiet zones" and "phone zones" on an ICE train. When you book a seat online, you get to choose which zone you want, I’m not sure about the machines at the station. But as you can board any ICE train without a reservation, I guess a large number of people never noticed the small stickers on the door. Most of them will be happy they found a seat no matter which zone.

Even if people were aware, I doubt it would make much of a difference. There will always be one person to ignore the quiet zone (knowingly or unknowingly), and instead of telling them to stop, a lot of Germans tend to let it go and instead start ignoring the quiet zone themselves. As a result, anyone coming in will not notice that they are in a quiet zone and also engage in conversations and stuff…

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Hello,My name is Aparna Patel,I’m a Travel Blogger and Photographer who travel the world full-time with my hubby.I like to share my travel experience.

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