Heavy obstructions in Bavaria's rush hour traffic
The warning strike by the train drivers' union GDL caused considerable disruption to commuter traffic in Bavaria on Thursday morning. Train cancellations and massive delays made commuting a gamble in some cases. S-Bahn services in the cities of Munich and Nuremberg were also severely affected, with stations unusually empty. Some S-Bahn lines only ran every 60 minutes, some were completely canceled.
It was still unclear how many railroad employees had followed the GDL's call, said a union spokesperson in the morning. However, there would be massive disruptions to local and long-distance services, said a spokeswoman for Deutsche Bahn. DB advises passengers to postpone their journey until after the strike if possible or, if necessary, to make individual enquiries for their route.
The GDL had called on its members to go on a 20-hour warning strike at Deutsche Bahn from Wednesday evening. The employees were to go on strike from 10 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday. The private railroads operating in Bavaria, such as goAhead, Länderbahn and Bayerische Regiobahn (BRB), were not affected by the strike call. However, there were still disruptions.
For example, the Oberpfalzbahn between Schwandorf and Bodenwöhr on the Länderbahn routes was disrupted in the early hours of the morning due to work stoppages in the Bodenwöhr signal box. There were also partial cancellations on the alex between Regensburg and Schwandorf due to work stoppages in the Regensburg signal box. The signal boxes were later reoccupied.
The representatives of the GDL and DB met last week for the first round of negotiations for a new collective agreement and, after a few hours, postponed further talks until this Thursday. In the wage negotiations, the union is demanding, among other things, an increase of 555 euros per month for employees as well as an inflation compensation bonus of up to 3000 euros. A sticking point is already the demand for a reduction in working hours from 38 to 35 hours for shift workers with full pay compensation.
Due to the GDL's strikes, tariffs on affected railroad services could potentially increase, as Deutsche Bahn might need to recover lost revenue. The traffic congestion caused by the strikes also impacted surrounding roads, leading to longer journey times for motorists.
Source: www.dpa.com
