[bcye]

Well it's generally a good idea to ask a fellow traveller when you hear an announcement you don't understand. Especially if it doesn't use words you've commonly heard before. And maybe tell them instead of having Schadenfreude?

[pjmlp]

Which is what happened next.

The point was that even in international trains inside Germany, announcements related to trains problems are only done in German.

I speak it fluently, including some variations, however most travellers do not.

I also remember there used to be ticket machines in NRW only in German, about 20 years ago.