Traffic
Snow and ice paralyze rail traffic in southern Bavaria
Snow and ice cause traffic chaos in Bavaria. photo
© Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa
Winter has arrived in Germany with lots of snow and ice. In Bavaria in particular, the weather conditions are causing chaos – traffic on the roads and rail is severely affected.
There is snow and ice on the roads and railways in the south Bavaria caused chaos. Numerous railway lines around the state capital Munich had to be closed overnight, as Deutsche Bahn (DB) announced. Train traffic to and from Munich main station was initially suspended.
In Ulm and Munich, passengers had to spend the night on trains. Subways, buses and trams also initially stopped running in the Bavarian capital. There were numerous accidents on the roads in Bavaria – most of which resulted in property damage. According to the German Weather Service, the weather will initially remain wintry. Snowfall, sometimes heavy, is expected in the south until the afternoon.
Delays and train cancellations
Between Munich-Pasing and Fürstenfeldbruck, between Tutzing (Starnberg district) and Weilheim in Upper Bavaria and between Neukirchen and Vilseck (both Amberg-Sulzbach district), trains had to stop at the stations because of fallen trees. Rail replacement services cannot be offered due to the weather-related situation on the roads, it said. Delays and train cancellations must be expected.
As a dpa reporter reported, a train coming from Stuttgart had to be converted into a hotel train at Ulm main station in the early hours of the morning. The DB also provided a train for stranded passengers at Munich Central Station. According to a DB spokeswoman, it was initially unclear how many trains had to cancel their journeys for the time being.
The police in the Free State reported numerous minor accidents on the roads. In Upper Bavaria, Lower Bavaria, Middle Franconia and Swabia, however, there were mainly sheet metal damage and minor injuries. In Swabia in particular, smaller roads initially had to be closed due to fallen trees. A truck overturned on the Autobahn 8 near Weyarn (Miesbach district) for reasons that are still unclear. A lockdown has been put in place.