A two-day strike by German train drivers on Wednesday plunged travel in Europe into chaos as passengers scrambled to find alternatives after the industrial action was declared.
The publicly-owned German rail company, Deutsche Bahn, was forced to cancel 75 per cent of long-distance connections in the wake of the strike.
The strike was in a dispute over train workers’ pay, including a pandemic bonus, and predicted further cancellations and delays to regional links.
German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) head, Claus Weselsky, with his members walking off the job for the first time in six years said, “the first effects of the strike are being felt.’’
Weselsky called on the company to make a new offer to help end the dispute with the industrial action coming in the middle of the nation’s annual summer vacation period.
School holidays are currently being held in 11 of the nation’s 16 states.
However, German carrier, Lufthansa, had deployed larger aircraft to cope with the passenger rush.
Long-distance bus companies reported a surge in demand with the budget Flixbus group reporting a 70-per-cent jump in bookings compared with the previous week.
Deutsche Bahn personnel manager, Martin Seiler, criticised the strike as “completely inappropriate and excessive.”
However, Seiler indicated the company’s readiness to return to the negotiating table, with the threat of the strike having been building up over months.
“Now it’s up to each other to decide together how we get out of this difficult crisis.
“We also want our employees to be paid reasonably,” he said, adding that the rail company’s offer was reasonable.
The strike began on Tuesday evening as GDL members stopped running cargo trains.
Cross-border services are also affected.
As the industrial action got underway, Deutsche Bahn issued a replacement timetable in a bid to cope with the passenger fallout from the strike.
Three out of four long-distance connections have already been cancelled with reports of rail personnel manning empty stations across the nation.
The labour action is due to end on Friday, Aug. 13 at 2.00 a.m. (0000 GMT).
Rail traffic is expected to resume largely without problems in time for the weekend, Deutsche Bahn said.
The strike by the company’s train drivers was supported by 95 per cent of the GDL’s members, in a ballot that far exceeded the required approval of 75 per cent.
Deutsche Bahn, which has been hit by massive losses due to the coronavirus crisis and the cost of damages caused by July’s devastating floods in the western part of Germany, had wanted to delay the wage increases.
