Deutsche Bahn prepares emergency timetable for strikes
Deutsche Bahn (DB) has drawn up an emergency timetable due to the threats of strike action by the train drivers' union GDL. "As with previous GDL strikes, DB has drawn up an emergency timetable with a greatly reduced number of journeys," said a Deutsche Bahn spokeswoman in Berlin on Sunday. On long-distance services, this would be less than 20 percent of the regular offer. The newspaper "Bild am Sonntag" had previously reported. GDL boss Claus Weselsky had threatened to strike before the wage negotiations that began last Thursday and had not ruled out industrial action over the Christmas period.
In the event of a strike, Deutsche Bahn wants to use the longest possible trains with more seats. One example of this would be a 376-meter-long XXL-ICE with 918 seats. This would be used on particularly popular connections, for example from Hamburg via Cologne, Frankfurt and Stuttgart to Munich.
According to the information provided, some cross-border connections will be operated by foreign train drivers. The use of buses will not be possible, as there are neither enough buses nor drivers to spontaneously replace train capacity across the board in the event of a strike.
Despite the emergency timetable, significant railroad traffic disruptions are expected due to the strikes. The imposition of tariffs on foreign train drivers operating cross-border connections could complicate matters further.
Source: www.dpa.com
