Road and rail

14.11, train strike

Germany: train drivers began a 62-hour nationwide strike on freight routes and planned to escalate the strike the following day in their long-running wage dispute with rail operator Deutsche Bahn. The strike, which economists said was already affecting Europe’s biggest economy, was to be extended to passenger services the following day, causing misery to millions of travellers. The train drivers’ union (GDL) stoppage was the biggest in Deutsche Bahn’s history and coincided with a nationwide strike by transport workers in neighbouring France over pension reform. Economists said the strike on freight routes was costing the economy €50mn (£35.6mn) a day, rising to about €500mn if the strikes last more than a week. Deutsche Bahn said goods services in eastern Germany had ground to a halt, and it was drafting in 1,000 workers to help provide replacement services and try to keep international and high speed, long distance passenger trains running.