For the third time within a few weeks, trains in Bavaria are also due to be canceled due to the train drivers’ strike – this time the strike is supposed to last five days. However, on Wednesday Deutsche Bahn tried to avert the strike with an improved offer to the German Locomotive Drivers Union (GDL). At first, however, the union did not comment.
The spokesman for the Bavarian district of the GDL, Erik Großmann, had previously said: The decision was therefore made to go on such a long strike “to show again what strength we have and that we have many members to support us”. The railway is providing a replacement schedule, but regional and long-distance traffic will be severely affected.
On Wednesday evening, the railway announced that it wanted to meet key demands of the union. It offered a corona premium of 400 to 600 euros – depending on the salary group – and a term of the collective agreement of 36 months. Furthermore, the railway offers 3.2 percent more salary in two stages. However, both sides disagree about when these steps should take effect. Even before the offer, Großmann from the GDL district of Bavaria had said that if Deutsche Bahn made an offer that could not be refused, a shortening of the strike was an option.
The Union of German Locomotive Drivers (GDL) had called on its members to stop work in passenger services from 2 a.m. on Thursday to 2 a.m. on Tuesday. In freight traffic, the strike had already started on Wednesday afternoon at 5 p.m.
The planned strike affects the Free State as well as the rest of Germany. According to Deutsche Bahn, around a quarter of the normal timetable should be used for long-distance transport. As in the last two strikes, DB is targeting around 40 percent of train traffic for regional traffic. There are replacement timetables here, which are to be published the day before and entered online or in the DB Navigator app. The Munich S-Bahn is also affected, here trains should run at least every hour, and on some lines every 20 to 40 minutes.
Private railways such as Agilis, Länderbahn, Bayerischer Oberlandbahn or Bayerischer Regiobahn do not go on strike. But it could be that there is an impact here or there if DB dispatchers go on strike, said Großmann from GDL Bayern. So there are train cancellations and emergency bus services on the Augsburg-Landsberg and Augsburg-Füssen routes of the Bavarian Regiobahn. Agilis and Länderbahn expected that – as with the last two strikes – there will be no effects.