Enlarge image
Morning rail traffic in Stuttgart after the strike: only a few disruptions
Photo: Marijan Murat / dpa
After two days of strike, rail passengers will begin to return to normal on Friday.
The strike by the train drivers' union GDL came to an end as scheduled at two o'clock.
As a rail spokesman said in the night, rail traffic started largely normally on Friday morning.
However, since there may still be restrictions in some cases, passengers are asked to find out more in the digital information media of Deutsche Bahn before starting their journey.
This means that the regular timetable applies again.
During the ramp-up on Friday, however, there could still be individual restrictions, the railway had already made clear during the strike.
This can be the case, for example, when trains start operating in other locations.
They are working on restoring smooth operations on all lines as quickly as possible, it said.
Weekend stays free of strikes
The union of German locomotive drivers wants to take stock of their strike in Berlin in the morning.
The union announced that the solidarity of the members was huge across all professional groups.
"They all showed Deutsche Bahn the red card." From Wednesday morning the union had called on its members to go on a 48-hour strike in passenger traffic.
In freight transport, the strike began on Tuesday evening.
According to the union, the infrastructure was also affected.
For the first time there was a strike in six interlocking companies, as well as in parts of the workshops and the administration.
According to the railway, however, the greatly reduced replacement schedule could be run.
More strikes are possible, but it won't happen this weekend.
The union wants to discuss how to proceed next week.
Bahn and GDL are fighting for a wage increase of 3.2 percent in the collective bargaining round.
What is disputed, however, is when the increase will take effect and how long the new collective agreement should apply.
Company pensions are also a contentious issue.
Deutsche Bahn wants to keep the costs of the collective bargaining agreement low because it incurred high losses in the Corona crisis.
In addition, the federal government, as the owner, has also demanded savings in the group in return for billions in aid.
There has been a collective agreement with the larger rail and transport union for almost a year.
At the beginning of 2022, employees will receive 1.5 percent more money.
Terminations for operational reasons are excluded.
However, the GDL does not want to accept a zero round this year and is also demanding a corona premium of 600 euros.
Union chief Claus Weselsky threatens further strikes if the railway does not submit an improved offer.
mik / dpa