Planning on taking the train in Germany? Better have a backup plan.
 

<i>Drivers for Germany's Deutsche Bahn plan a week-long strike to start on Monday, their eighth walkout in 10 months of wage negotiations.</i>

http://www.dw.de/german-railways-to-...ike/a-18426153

Yes, this strike is for this week but considering that it is the 8th strike in 10 months, anyone planning on rail travel through Germany this year should have a backup plan just in case.

.. but a extremely high number of trains seem to run nevertheless
http://www.bahn.de/hilfe/view/pk/de/streik2.shtml
For point to point travel, check http://www.checkmybus.ch/
These buses are cheaper than trains anyway.

A lot of trains do run, HOWEVER, if you bought a Sparpreis ticket then you are very likely SOL.

All i am saying is have a backup plan, just in case. Especially if you bought a discounted ticket.

May make the value of a German Railpass if taking more than a few trains priceless as can be used on any train with very few exceptions anytime - just hop on as nearly no German trains have mandated seat requirements! Sometimes folks save a relatively little money with discounted tickets and their potential liabilities in such strikes when for a modest sum more they could travel carte blanche!

If a train is cancelled for which you bought a Sparpreis Ticket, you can take a different one.

I think there are restrictions with very cheap tickets as Länder or weekend tickets to take the more expensive trains (IC, ICE). But if you have a ticket for the train to Frankfurt at 13:00 which gets cancelled, you can take the one at 12:00 or 14:00.

Here writes the local man from Germany:

Next week there will be chaos in the railway system. Yes, a few trains will run - but hours late, you do not know whether they go and when, the stations will be crowded with stranded people, the platforms will be crowded and the trains too. You may get a refund for your ticket, but only after waiting in line in front of the counter for two hours, after filling out a 4-pages-form and after threatening to give the matter in the hands of your lawyer.

What will happen after this week-long strike, nobody can predict. Maybe they find an agreement, maybe there will be more strikes.

In other words: Your vacation will be ruined. Forget train travel when the train is on strike. The plan B might be a bus (www.meinfernbus.de), but since everyone makes this plan b, the buses might be fully booked as well. Plan C will be a rental car. Plan D a flight, if there is a connection.

If a train is cancelled for which you bought a Sparpreis Ticket, you can take a different one.>

If you can physically scramble onto one and on which all the seats may have been reserved by then by folks in the know - but if you cn physically squeeze on you can find a place to stand - maybe not for your bags always but at least you - that is the worst-case scenario but possible I believe.

>>A lot of trains do run<<

That is simply not true.

I'm glad that for our all-too-short trip in June, we're hiring a car to get us from Berlin to our destination, about 2 hours drive away.

The earliest we could have got there by train was an hour after we'll get there by car [always supposing I can find our destination, and don't head for the same town of the same name like we almost did last time] and with the strikes, it's possible that by the time we got there it would be time to come back.

annhig - under optimal conditions you may arrive there an hour earlier by car but IME of driving German autobahns there can be stahls as I believe Germans call them - been in so many, mainly around big cities though. but given the questionable iffy spector of trains not running or the few that may be so overloaded you wouldn't want to - a car makes sense and Berlin as you may know is an excellent city to drive in - thanks to WW2 with its now broad boulevards going everywhere.

>>>stahls as I believe Germans call them<<<

The word "stahls" does not exist in German. There is a word "Stahl" which translates to "steel" and has nothing to do with Autobahnen.

We have very few connections where the train is faster than the car from door to door. And, sadly enough, the train is usually late, you miss connections and you are in trouble. German trains used to be reliable, but this is long ago. It has obviously not made to North Michigan yet.

What is a bottle neck on an autobahn be called? Curious?

Pal - I think you're talking about a "Stau", which is the german for "hold up", or traffic jam, as our Navi constantly reminded us on our way from Karlsruhe to Stuttgart airport on a Monday morning. [not recommended]

We won't be driving on Berlin, but heading south west from the airport towards Leipzig and beyond.

Is it possible to figure out in advance which trains will still run? Even a couple hours in advance could make the difference between enjoying a different city than planned and wasting hours sitting in a train station. I arrive in Germany in the next 5 days and was going to be traveling almost exclusively by train ...

Also, what do you suggest as a backup plan? Car rental?

Yep. A Stau is a traffic jam.

If you rent a car and are planning to use the autobahn, it would be wise to plan in a 30-45 min buffer for every 2 hours you plan on driving just in case you run into an accident or other slowdown. I seems like every time we drive to/from FRA that we are stuck in traffic for at least 30 min.


<i>Is it possible to figure out in advance which trains will still run? Even a couple hours in advance could make the difference between enjoying a different city than planned and wasting hours sitting in a train station. I arrive in Germany in the next 5 days and was going to be traveling almost exclusively by train ...

Also, what do you suggest as a backup plan? Car rental?</i>

It's possible to figure out the schedules but like others said, the trains will be packed to the gills. Check schedules here: http://www.bahn.de/p_en/view/index.shtml and expect to see one running train for every 4-7 cancelled.

The most convenient backup plan is to rent a car. (And take along your own GPS. This one has lifetime maps: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ZHGJ4K5AFQFJFY )

I couldn't find the English version but I think this is the most reliable German version. I think it's different from the normal schedule query. Start is start, Ziel is destination.

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/que...n-zuegen._LZ01

From a quick check on the route I'm often travelling (and will travel on Thu or Fri), at least 50% of the trains are still scheduled. No idea how representative this is.

I wouldn't be surprised if they were more packed than ususal and I'd also expect more delays than usual. But during the last strike I took regional trains to work, i.e. rush-hour, and they were in my opinion less crowded than normal. A lot of people must have switched to alternative transports. Which is also the reason why I'd expect more trafic and traffic jams than usual on the streets.

Hans, the link I posted ( http://www.bahn.de/p_en/view/index.shtml ) gives the current rail schedule.

The regionals and locals are running but many are also cancelled. Looks like only 25% from a few local searches I performed.

"If you can physically scramble onto one and on which all the seats may have been reserved by then by folks in the know - but if you cn physically squeeze on you can find a place to stand - maybe not for your bags always but at least you - that is the worst-case scenario but possible I believe."

No doubt that this can happen. But I'd expect many people to avoid train travel if at all possible. If one can avoid rush-hour, I wouldn't be surprised if the situation is better than the worst case.

By the way, without reservation I'd head to the restaurant car. There's often a chance to get a seat there.

Spark, sorry, I thought I saw a difference in a search but I probably just got it wrong.

I think the amount of cancelled local trains might also depend on how many Beamte (state employees from the time before the Bahn was privatized) are still working in a region since they aren't allowed to strike. I think the percentage is higher in the former West Germany than in former East Germany.

Is there a decent chance that this situation will stretch into the summer?

And would the strike affect EC trains that originate or end in Germany?

<i>Is there a decent chance that this situation will stretch into the summer? </i>

That depends entirely on whether or not an agreement is reached between the union and DB.



<i>And would the strike affect EC trains that originate or end in Germany?</i>

Check this link for details: https://www.b-europe.com/Travel/Practical/Alerts

@sparkchaser - that link says that Thalys will operate normally, doesn't mention ICE. I just bought a ticket for ICE Lubeck-Copenhagen for July... and there is no way I will drive that.

This doesn't affect U-bahn and S-bahn, right? In other words, I would still be able to go Berlin-Potsdam, but maybe not Berlin-Shwerin?

U-bahn is local networks and those should be running normally. My local S-Bahn is a local network but it is still affected by the strike.

ICE is a DB product and if they are on strike during your trip in July, you are potentially impacted (because nobody knows if there will be a rail strike on your travel date).

Do you feel lucky?

"Do you feel lucky?"

Not particularly. How much notice are the strikers giving?

Thanks for the links, they're helpful. Hopefully they're also accurate :)
Anyone know if historically the strikes actually end when they say they will? Or is there a good chance train travel the week beginning May 10 will also be a mess?

What will happen after this week-long strike, nobody can predict. Maybe they find an agreement, maybe there will be more strikes.>

to answer your question "Is there a good chance train travel the week beginning May 10 will also be a mess?"

well traveler1959 lives in Germany I believe and knows these things better than most and he said above:

<What will happen after this week-long strike, nobody can predict. Maybe they find an agreement, maybe there will be more strikes.>

The German railways are going thru a period of intense labor-management friction so expect strikes at anytime - that is what I gather from above posts anyway. Don't count on it ending when it says it will end. Unfortuantely.

<i> How much notice are the strikers giving?</i>

Enough for DB to make notices to put up at the stations and for the news outlets to report it.

FWIW, I checked tomorrow's schedule for two trains I'd be taking this summer. For EC 173 from Berlin to Prague, they are selling full fare refundable tickets, but not discounted tickets. But for Berlin, it indicates "Stop Cancelled".

For EC/ALX 354, from Prague to Munich, they are selling full fare tickets, and there are no other notes, so apparently that train is running.

I would not rely on tomorrow's DB schedule to be an indicator of the schedule in July should there be a strike the day you are traveling.

For EC/ALX 354, from Prague to Munich, they are selling full fare tickets, and there are no other notes, so apparently that train is running.- It's not a DB train right - the strike is only on DB trains? I'm curious or an all of Germany's various railways?

We were back and forth or train or car so am happy we are renting now.

PQ, don't know the answer to that one. They're both EC trains, but maybe it has to do with where they originate, and who's driving? Probably very difficult to figure out on an individual basis.

sparkchaser, thanks for the advice, but I was mainly posting that info for the benefit of others who may be wondering about whether EC trains might be affected.

"Anyone know if historically the strikes actually end when they say they will? Or is there a good chance train travel the week beginning May 10 will also be a mess?"

The strike won't run into Monday 11th and I think the chances are very low that there'll be an additional strike in that week (at least I can't remember a precedent for that). But there's no guarantee that there's no strike in two weeks.

As far as I understand it, the main problem with the negotiations is that two unions are involved. So the negotiations aren't just about wages or work environment but also involve a power struggle between the two unions. This is somewhat unusual for Germany and makes it very difficult to predict how long it'll take to find a solution for the dispute.

Just logged on and am reeling! Will be arriving May 20 and have planned to use trains exclusively for 13 days. Glad I logged on, would have hated to be surprised by this. Will be traveling Muc to GP, GP to Nurnberg, Nurnberg to Boppard, Boppard to Frankfurt
Don't want to drive, and wondering if now that this is an issue, a car will be difficult to get

The strike should be over by then.

flpab: breaks my heart.

s

Short update from my experience with taking a train during the strike: I ended up about 45 minutes late due to a missed connection but this happens also quite frequently without a strike. Even though I travelled around rush-hour for business travellers (17:30-20:00) the train wasn't especially full (in my opinion emptier than normal) and I found a seat without a reservation.

I'm sure that there are many examples for worse experiences but thingsa can also work out well.

I didn't notice this on the DB website the last time I was on it, so maybe it's new. It states that refunds will be provided for cancelled trains, or passengers can change to an alternative train. It adds that saver fare (sparpreis) tickets will no longer be subject to the specific train restriction. So apparently if you have a sparpreis ticket and your train gets cancelled you are covered.

If you buy specially discounted tickets on regional trains - like happy weekend or laender tickets, you're up the creek.

http://www.bahn.de/p/view/home/konta...lanz_eng.shtml

Wednesday, I went by train from Basle via Mannheim to Stuttgart and Thursday afternoon/evening, I came back the same way. All trains were in time (according to Ersatzfahrplan) and I always found free seats. No problem with UBahn/S-Bahn within Stuttgart neither.
ATM's worked normally, why shouldn't they?
But I agree that the strike situation is much worse in Bavaria and within strike fan areas like Brandenburg.

Well, I'm not sure that the strike situation is much worse in Bavaria . . .

It depends on which train you're taking and where you're going. Quite a lot of the trains south of Munich are run by Meridian, which is a private company and not affected by the DB strike. Other trains into Austria are Austrian Railjet, also not affected by the strike.

s