The German rail strike has started. Three hours of transportation paralysis today, but the strike is open-ended.

This can affect international rail service as well.

There are only strikes on local trains. However in anticipation of "a" strike, DB also has stopped quite a few regional and long distance trains, which aren't affected by strikes at all right now.

Basically, there is no strike on most routes, just DB won't let many trains operate as scheduled...

Now anybody please explain this nonsense! Is it, "Now need for you to come to work today, we won't need your help anyway"??

Maybe the German strike can meet up with the French strike.

Can't figure out a way to fit in the British postal strike yet.

The strike has ended by now. Things are going back to normal.

>Things are going back to normal.
Are they really?

DB are crazy, they don't care if the strike has ended or not, they simply don't let the trains run on schedule.
How sick is that!!!

"ganztägig einen eingeschränkten Fahrplan anbieten."

<font color="red">WHAT???!!!</font> - We leave in 4 days for Germany, with an itinerary that's designed around the train system. Yikes!!!

Please keep us posted...

Thanks, Robyn &gt;-

Next strikes are scheduled for Monday, but who knows. At this moment only stikes on local trains have been allowed by the court.

artstuff:

Is not as bad as it sounds. The strikes are not daily but maybe for a half day within a period of two weeks. And they are announced some days in advance. Look at www.bahn.de or ask the hotel concierge. Everyone in Germany will know about the strikes, because of extensive media coverage.

A strike usually lasts for 3 hours a day in the morning, but delays will occur during the whole day. Even if there is a strike, at least 50% of the trains are still operating, however often delayed.

So keep yourself informed and be prepared for delays of one or two hours (nasty enough). Or think about changing your schedule if a strike is announced. Avoid the busy times between 7:00 and 10:00 a.m.

Don't panic - enjoy your trip!

Well, I looked over our itinerary, and I don't think we'll have a problem since we have built fluctuations into our schedules.

However, there are two days that I'm concerned about, since we will be travelling in and out of a more rural area (Eppingen &amp; Ittlingen), which relies on regional trains. So I hope they have settled the strike by Sunday, 14 October.

In fact, we are supposed to meet a woman and her daughter at the Eppingen train station at 11:22 Sunday morning, and we'll have no way to contact her if we are delayed. I guess they'll just have to hang out and wait for us to arrive. Oh well...

Robyn &gt;-

Never experienced a strike on a sunday. Those things are done during the week, when they hurt most.

Robyn,

not sure about Ittlingen but Eppingen is served by AVG trains, not DB. The strike is only among DB personnel. If you are already in karlsruhe or Heilbronn when the DB strike starts you are fine.

http://www.avg.info/

According to the KVV info site: no strikes on S-Bahn lines served by AVG. Eppingen is on S4

Yup. The KVV/AVG S-Bahn in Karlsruhe has nothing to do with DB (unlike those in, for example, Munich or Frankfurt).