Overview
- On Saturday the ICE L service from Westerland (Sylt) to Berlin-Gesundbrunnen made an unscheduled stop in Hamburg‑Bergedorf after train staff discovered the onboard toilets had run out of toilet paper.
- The train manager left the train at Bergedorf, bought three large packs of toilet paper at a nearby supermarket, returned to the platform and the service resumed.
- A passenger posted video of the episode on Instagram as user 'mistercurly' and the clip went viral, drawing hundreds of thousands of views and largely positive praise for the employee’s quick action.
- Deutsche Bahn confirmed the incident, attributed it to a short-term personnel absence at the external service provider that prevented the usual stock check, said it will cover the cost of the purchase, and pledged more frequent spot checks of consumables.
- The stop added about 45 minutes to the journey for passengers, which falls below many automatic delay‑compensation thresholds, and the episode highlights both frontline improvisation and wider operational scrutiny of DB’s pre-departure procedures.