Zur deutschen Version dieses ArtikelsSo it is possible! At least sometimes.
Yesterday on the ICE train between Würzburg and Ingolstadt (all translations by me): “[…] Our train is currently 9 minutes late. [… connections …] We apologize” – without “thank you for your understanding.” Apparently not all of them are as arrogant and resistant to learning. (If Tchibo is doing that better by now, too?)
(And most of that delay was regained: the +9 became +1 in Ingolstadt, so I could easily catch my RE connection.)
Alas, only sometimes:
On the outbound journey on Friday, the ICE stopped right after Nürnberg due to construction work: two short announcements “…delayed by … minutes. We thank you for your understanding.” Later, longer announcements “[…] currently … minutes delayed. We apologize. […connections…] We thank you for your understanding.”
If one of the conductors/attendants had shown up in my compartment, I had notified him/her of this “unfortunate choice of words” – no-one came, though. Needless to say that the final +15 got me a stay of nearly two hours in Würzburg. Well, Würzburg is a nice town, as well…