# One German millennial choses to live on trains



## KmH (Aug 23, 2015)

Costs less than rent!


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## neroden (Aug 23, 2015)

At that price, I'd be sorely tempted myself.


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## TinCan782 (Aug 23, 2015)

Nice!

Can't see that working too well with our current Amtrak system.


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## Rail Freak (Aug 23, 2015)

KmH said:


> Costs less than rent!


Oh, to be young again!!!


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## me_little_me (Aug 23, 2015)

KmH said:


> Costs less than rent!





> Müller frequently travels late at night, although she tries to sleep at the apartments of relatives or friends.


Life is so easy when you sponge off your friends all the time. She can save even more money if she sponges full time. Then she can write about how her friends really feel to be paying for a place while she isn't.


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## MikefromCrete (Aug 23, 2015)

I question the whole concept of her "living on a train" since she spends nights in apartments of family and friends. I imagine the family and friends will quickly tire of this. But it is a great way to spend the day.


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## beautifulplanet (Aug 27, 2015)

Sometimes I wonder what is lost through translation and cultural differences. In Germany (having no fear of "big government"), it is mandatory for all residents to register their residence with the city administration. This is also why there is no registration necessary to vote, because all residents who are also German (or European Union for local and European elections) citizens automatically get the election notification in the mail. It is actually punishable by law when one does not notify the city and register within two weeks of residing somewhere, and the whole issue of having a residence or not is somewhat a bigger deal.

So on May 1, 2015, Leonie Müller decided to give up her own apartment, and to get a national rail pass (BahnCard 100, literally RailCard 100) instead. While she doesn't have an apartment of herself anymore, the law requires her to have a registered residence (and as she writes on her blog, it can't be "coach 25 in ICE 513"), she's still registered as having a residence with her family, although she does not have a room there. But it's not about being homeless, or literally living on the train, in the meaning of spending all days and nights there. She noticed during her previous world travels that she likes to reduce her belongings to what fits into a small backpack, and she feels like she's not needing to have an apartment of her own anymore. And cost-wise it is less expensive to just have a national rail pass instead of her own apartment. Plus, it makes sense, since her university is in Tübingen, her boyfriend lives in Cologne, her mom lives in Berlin, and her grandma lives in Bielefeld. She spends time at these places, also sleeps there, still the national rail pass allows her to travel freely and unlimitedly between these and other places within Germany. She states on her blog that she indeed does also sleeps several times on the train though (there are many ICE high-speed rail and other regular services that operate through the night, so no sleeping cars, still some people actually do that, my dad being one of them, while I couldn't spend the night in a seat and would prefer an actual bed). She also intends to use her national rail pass, to travel to the northern-most, southern-most, eastern-most and western-most town in Germany, doing couch surfing, or do other projects. In the end, she is still a university student making her bachelor's degree, still in the last year one is mostly not having to attend many classes but instead spending most of the time writing the bachelor's thesis, so one can do that writing anywhere, which fits nicely to being able to travel anywhere with the rail pass.  

Many people might find it impressive, to downsize like this, possibly similar to the tiny house movement, just with even fewer belongings and completely without a residence of one's own, and live as a digital nomad on trains instead.  

It might seem amazing how cheap the national rail pass is, and how much it offers. With $380 a month, it's less than the $399 for a Metrolink monthly pass from Palmdale to Los Angeles Union Station (at least the is the regular price before the temporarily fare reduction pilot program). Or a monthly pass between Los Angeles and San Diego is $590. But instead just offering a limited service of a few daily runs in each direction for 65 miles or 120 miles, the German national rail pass includes unlimited travel on high-speed rail ICE and IC services, unlimited travel on regional train services, unlimited travel on S-Bahn commuter rail systems all across Germany, and unlimited subway, tram and bus travel in more than 120 cities in Germany. And most rail lines across the country offer hourly service, many operate even more frequently. It's also worth noting that no advance reservations are required for this rail pass. With very few exclusions, it's valid for any train - just hop on, and go.  With the necessary scope of public investment into the rail system (and also in Germany, rail advocates are still locked up in a fight about the necessary funding), a comprehensive rail system offers so many advantages for the people and the economy as a whole. At least some might think it is encouraging, that in the United States, despite on a much smaller scale, some significant investment into rail can also be witnessed in recent times, most recently the day before yesterday with the people of Phoenix deciding to nearly triple the size of their existing light rail system by building an additional 42 miles, while also significantly expanding local bus service to complement it.


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## neroden (Sep 1, 2015)

It is a damn cheap national rail pass. Heck, you can't get passes for the NYC metro area rail system for anywhere close to that price.


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