S-Bahn trains every hour, failures in three quarters of all long-distance trains: Because of the train drivers' strike, train drivers have had to be patient again since Thursday - also in Munich.
Munich - At two o'clock in the morning the strike in local public transport began, a spokesman for GDL Bayern confirmed on Thursday.
"Participation in the strike is good because the frustration is enormous."
Not only the train drivers, but also many travelers were frustrated.
However, the situation in rush hour traffic remained relatively calm, at the main train station on Thursday morning only a few passengers asked rail employees about connections.
At first, there was not an unusually high level of traffic on the motorways and streets in the city either.
Most commuters and travelers had probably prepared for the strike - and there is less traffic anyway because of the holiday season.
GDL is on strike in Munich: Already the third strike in a few weeks
However: Those who are dependent on the S-Bahn or long-distance connections were very frustrated. Sometimes they had to wait for hours. After all: From the perspective of the railway, the replacement schedule has started stable, said a spokesman. This stipulates that 40 percent of the regular timetable will be offered in regional traffic. The S-Bahn should run at least every hour, according to the company, every fourth train should run in long-distance traffic.
The GDL has been striking the freight traffic since Wednesday afternoon.
The train drivers' union is fighting for more money and better working conditions for its members.
Competitors of Deutsche Bahn are not on strike.
However, restrictions are also possible for them as a result of the strikes.
On Wednesday evening, the railway announced that it wanted to meet key demands of the union.
Initially, however, the union did not comment.
The strike is the third within a few weeks and is expected to last five days.
It affects the Free State as well as the rest of Germany.
The railway considers the strike to be unlawful and has the matter examined by a court.
The negotiations in Frankfurt had not yet ended when this edition went to press.
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The S-Bahn got out of step with the strike, but many travelers had prepared themselves.
© Peter Kneffel / dpa
Rail strike in Munich: GDL boss defends himself against allegations - "No power struggle"
According to a “Spiegel” report, train drivers are the main participants in the GDL strike.
As the magazine reported on Thursday, citing internal figures from the railway, as of 11.00 a.m. there were 3392 GDL members on strike, 2514 of them train drivers.
The on-board catering provided the second largest group with 579 strikers, and 187 workers in the workshops were on strike by mid-morning.
According to the report, 23 dispatchers and 20 signaling workers also stopped working. GDL boss Claus Weselsky emphasized on Thursday that the union had recently opened up again to other professional groups. In the past 14 months, the GDL gained 4,000 new members. The GDL organizes "to a very large extent people who were not previously in a trade union," said Weselsky to the "Spiegel". Therefore "no power struggle" with the much larger railway union Eisenbahn- und Verkehrsgewerkschaft (EVG) can be ascribed to him.
The chairman of the EVG, Klaus-Dieter Hommel, thinks nothing of the legal action taken by Deutsche Bahn against the strike of the rival union GDL.
"Collective bargaining belongs at the negotiating table and not in court," he told the German Press Agency on Thursday.
"I do not consider this subject to be legally viable at all." Both collective bargaining partners are responsible for the fact that the collective bargaining dispute between the union of German locomotive drivers and Deutsche Bahn has not yet been resolved.
GDL strike in Munich: that's what rail travelers say about the renewed work stoppages
Kerim Y. (25), student trainee from Mammendorf:
I'm going from the Ostbahnhof to Mammendorf.
I commute to work every day on this route.
This usually takes about 40 minutes.
Today it will be more than two hours.
I'm bored, but what can I do?
I partly understand the strike.
But I don't understand why you do that in the Corona period.
It could have been solved differently - without all the customers paying for tickets and having to suffer for them.
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Rail travelers like Kerim Y. had to wait longer on Thursday because of the GDL strike.
© Achim Schmidt
Marie M. and Gwendolyn R. (both 19), student and trainee from Kassel:
We want to go to Hungary, to Budapest. We come from Kassel and had to leave three hours earlier. Here we get on the train that we would otherwise have taken. We now hope that it drives too. But so far everything has gone well. We thought we were getting on a very crowded train, but it was all empty. We can understand that people are on strike. Of course, it's only annoying when you're affected. But it's not so tragic for us.
Monika and Rudolf Schöler, pensioners from Munich:
I wanted to go to Vaterstetten with my husband. It is difficult for him if he has to wait too long. A strike during the Corona period affects many people's health. I think the union wants to keep its power status so that the members don't leave.
In view of the recent GDL strike, rail travelers must fear that they will arrive at their destination with a significant delay.
What options you now have as a passenger.
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List of rubric lists: © Achim Schmidt