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Industrial action on German trains in the Fall

Last I read one of the unions was putting a potential agreement to its members with the results of the vote coming toward the end of August. Does anyone have more concrete information? I hope to be travelling around Germany (and from Austria/to the Netherlands) by train from mid September to mid October and would love some indication as to what I might expect. Is there a website other than DB's own which would have info while I am still in the trip-planning stage? Thanks.

Posted by
2235 posts

Here is the website of workers union EVG with information from their side about voting procedure. The result of the voting will be available begin of next week.

If current negotiation proposal is accepted by EVG members on August 25 everything will be OK, otherwise strikes are likely. Strikes normally happen 1-3 days; so wide parts of DB train network stand still during that time. Parts of S-Bahn networks of cities can be affected as well because they are also operated by DB.

Be aware that DB has currently severe punctuality issues with long-distance trains (ICE, IC, EC). See DB statement for July 2023 (tab "DB Fernverkehr").

You can prepare agaist strikes of DB by checking connections with Flixtrain and Flixbus.

For translations I recommend DeepL.

Posted by
20 posts

Thanks so much - I will keep an eye on the Union site and my fingers crossed!

Posted by
20 posts

Also meant to say thanks for the suggestion re Flixtrain and Flixbus, I have used the latter but didn't even know there was a train version!

Posted by
2235 posts

Members of workers' union accepted offer.
No strike from EVG side.
Maybe GdL (another workers' union) will stress this but that will be very likely after your journey.