As of: 03/10/2023 4:01 p.m
The strikes in France have paralyzed rail traffic for days. This will lead to massive restrictions in cross-border traffic to Germany at least until Monday. Trains to Belgium are also canceled.
Due to the ongoing strikes in France against the planned pension reform, there are still massive disruptions in cross-border rail traffic to Germany. The French state railway SNCF has also advised to postpone planned trips for the weekend. According to Deutsche Bahn, only individual TGV trains will run at least up to and including Monday.
There are many failures, among other things, on the connection from Paris via Saarbrücken and Kaiserslautern or Strasbourg and Karlsruhe to Frankfurt and Stuttgart. There are also no trains between Germany and France on the Karlsruhe and Marseille route.
The Thalys between Paris and Cologne and the night train from Paris to southern Germany and Vienna are also affected. The Deutsche Bahn provides information on its website about the trips that are still taking place.
Massive disturbances for days
Travelers also have to be prepared for cancellations in regional traffic to France, for example on the route from Saarbrücken to Metz and Strasbourg. Rail traffic in France has been massively disrupted for days – which also means that a large part of the trains on cross-border connections are canceled.
France’s government wants to gradually raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. In addition, the number of payment years required for a full pension should increase more quickly. The unions have therefore called for nationwide strikes and protests.
ICEs between Brussels and Frankfurt are cancelled
The nationwide strikes in Belgium are also leading to restrictions on train connections to Germany. As the railway announced, individual ICE trains between the Belgian capital Brussels and Frankfurt did not run today.
The public sector strikes in Belgium had already started on Thursday evening and were expected to last 24 hours. According to the Belga news agency, the unions complained about a shortage of staff and demanded more money. Work was therefore not only stopped in the transport companies, but also in authorities, schools, kindergartens and city cleaning services.
(Rail) strike in Belgium – connections to/from Germany are also affected
Stephan Ueberbach, ARD Brussels, March 10, 2023 4:24 p.m