Train and air traffic in Bavaria further restricted

Snow chaos - Train and air traffic in Bavaria further restricted

The weather chaos in Bavaria over the weekend continues to have an impact. Trains and flights were also canceled on Monday and schools remained closed. The state of emergency will continue, at least for parts of the traffic. Deutsche Bahn (DB) expects further disruptions in Bavaria until the middle of the week. Travelers have been asked to postpone non-essential journeys until 6 December.

More than half of the flights at Munich Airport were canceled on Monday. Around 540 of 880 planned flights were canceled, a spokesperson said. "We expect disruptions until the middle of the week," he said. Among other things, aircraft still have to be de-iced and areas on the tarmac cleared.

Work is also continuing on the railroads. Heavy snowfall paralyzed rail traffic in large parts of southern Germany on the first weekend of Advent. Trees blocked tracks, icy overhead lines and snow-covered trains prevented journeys.

"In many places, overhead lines were without power or pantographs sank under the weight of the snow. The prolonged interruption to the power supply in cold weather meant that some vehicles could no longer be activated and had to be towed away," DB announced.

As DB announced at the end of November, it only has 13 "railway-owned snow clearing vehicles" in Bavaria - with 9800 kilometers of track in the southern region. "In addition, there are seven light snow clearing vehicles - four multifunctional maintenance vehicles for the rail infrastructure and three track maintenance vehicles."

Travelers and commuters had to be prepared for delays and train cancellations on Monday as well. DB was initially unable to say when the S-Bahn in and around Munich, on which thousands of commuters rely, would be able to run regularly again. "Severe disruptions" were predicted until the middle of the week. The streetcars were still at a standstill in the morning, as reported by the Munich Transport Company (MVG). The subway trains and buses were in operation. However, MVG expected irregular service.

Munich Central Station was also only in operation to a very limited extent on Monday. The Länderbahn reported that traffic on its lines in Lower Bavaria could be resumed "with disruptions". Traffic on the Bayerische Regiobahn (BRB) remained partially suspended. A shuttle service has been set up on some routes, but will not run according to the timetable, said a spokeswoman.

The DB expected the trains to be very busy and advised passengers to postpone journeys to and from Munich. The Federal Police announced on Monday that they had had to help clear two ICE trains at Munich Central Station the previous day because the trains could not depart due to overcrowding.

The railroad union EVG and the passenger association Pro Bahn used the chaos at the railroad company as an opportunity to sound the alarm. They demanded consequences for the railroad's suitability for winter. EVG Chairman Martin Burkert told the "Augsburger Allgemeine" (Monday) that the German rail infrastructure was "largely dilapidated". There must be major investments along the lines of countries such as Austria.

The national chairman of the passenger association Pro Bahn, Detlev Neuß, told the newspaper that rail transport was "only sewn on edge after decades of austerity policies". One problem, he said, is that the railroads have cut back more and more tracks as stabling facilities for cost reasons and entire trains now have to be parked directly in stations if they can no longer reach their destination. "The congested stations mean that rail traffic is blocked even more quickly and comes to a standstill on a large scale."

Traffic on the roads has been flowing again since Sunday afternoon. However, there was a lot of snow, especially on secondary roads, and the masses of snow on the sides of the roads often made it difficult to get out of the way. There were still a few accidents, but most of them were minor, reported a spokesperson for the Upper Bavaria South police headquarters. "Drivers in Upper Bavaria are familiar with such conditions and can cope with them."

The snowfall also kept the fire department busy. In Munich alone, they were called out 785 times at the weekend, according to an initial report on Monday. The vehicles were even equipped with snow chains.

Uprooted trees, damaged overhead power lines and vehicles that went off the road kept the emergency services on their toes. So far, however, no people have been injured. In addition to all the work, the emergency services also received refreshments: Munich residents expressed their gratitude in part "with Christmas cookies, drinks or even a simple gesture of gratitude", the fire department said.

The Bavarian Palace Administration warned of the "danger of snow breakage" in the English Garden in Munich and against entering wooded areas where trees could topple under the weight of the snow or branches could break off. Some parks were to remain closed until Tuesday, including Nymphenburg Palace Park. This also applied to the animal enclosures of the Bavarian Forest National Park in Neuschönau and Ludwigsthal.

The municipal cemeteries in Munich also remained closed "until further notice". Not even burials could take place at the Waldfriedhof cemetery on Monday, according to the health department.

In the districts of Starnberg and Mühldorf am Inn, many schools remained closed on Monday. In some cases, distance learning was to be offered. In Augsburg, 20 schools were also to be temporarily closed in whole or in part, according to the city administration. The reason for this was the masses of snow on the roofs of the buildings. Once the snow has melted, the buildings will have to be checked for structural stability.

According to a Bayernwerk spokesperson, the power supply in Bavaria was stable again on Monday after numerous power outages in Upper and Eastern Bavaria over the weekend. There were only "isolated outages", he said. However, there could always be more if trees fell on the lines. The numerous damages are now being repaired. It is still unclear how extensive the damage is and how much it will cost.

DWD Bavaria Munich Airport Info Ministry of Culture on school closures - updated regularly DB information on winter