Sorry to hear. Back in the late 2000s I travelled quite a bit across Germany by train and the experience was always delightful.
What you describe is too close to the current state of British railway, which is so unreliable that, well, one can't rely on it for anything time-sensitive. It is only infrastructure if the system operates so smoothly one grows to rely on it completely. The UK's railway is more akin to a fair joyride: something one goes into for the thrill of it, knowingly.