A friend of mine was bemoaning his recent travel experience in Berlin, apparently one of his favourite European Cities. He had not been for several years and was drawn to a conference in the City. He knew the old Teigel Airport well, and assumed, unwittingly it now transpires, that the “new” Brandenburg airport would be a leg up in all respects. This is Germany after all!

He was shocked to find that the new airport (actually several years old) is over 30 kilometres from the centre of the City, and that there is no fast rail link. On arrival one apparently weighs up taking the train with its seventeen stops and 50-minute timetable to Berlin Central, with that of a taxi that can do it in 35 minutes if one is lucky but is more usually the same 50 minutes. My friend was less than pleased to find his return taxi (less than 24 hours from arriving – such is the joy of the business traveller) took over 35 minutes to travel just 1.7 km in central Berlin before hitting the highway with a further 35 mins to suffer for the remainder. 70 minutes is just not good enough these days.