The mega strike on Monday has massive effects on the railways: Long-distance traffic is completely stopped. Public transport will be massively restricted.
Cologne – On Monday, March 27th, there will be a mega strike in Germany: trains and buses in public transport and Deutsche Bahn will be at a standstill. This was announced by the Verdi and EVG unions in a press conference on Thursday. Commuters and travelers throughout Germany have to be prepared for significant restrictions.
Mega strike on March 27th: Bahn stops long-distance traffic
On Thursday afternoon, the railway announced: “DB long-distance traffic will be discontinued on March 27 due to a strike by the EVG union. Local transport will be massively affected nationwide.”
In the case of the train, this means that both the S-Bahn traffic and the regional and long-distance traffic will be on strike. Among other things, the employees of Deutsche Bahn and other railway companies are called on, according to EVG boss Martin Bunkert: Around 230,000 employees will therefore stop working on Monday.
Strike on Monday: Train travelers must take this into account
- passengers between Monday 27th and Tuesday 28th March have planned a trip and would like to postpone it, you can purchase your long-distance ticket from now up to and including Tuesday April 4th flexible to use.
- Seat reservations can be canceled free of charge
- Passengers starting their journey between the March 27th and 28th want to cancel due to the strike, can have their tickets refunded online via their customer account. To do this, the relevant trip must be selected and the button “Apply for compensation” selected. Then select “What happened on your trip” and “Didn’t start the trip”.
- Alternatively, fill out the passenger rights form by hand and under “Information about your journey” tick the item “I didn’t start my journey because of this delay or I canceled it at the following station…”.
- Compensation can only be requested once the tickets are valid
- Source: Deutsche Bahn
Train strike on Monday (March 27th) Restrictions possible from Sunday evening
Restrictions are even possible from Sunday evening (March 26), as entire shifts are on strike: “There will be severe delays throughout Germany, including the transport services in all the areas mentioned,” it said at the EVG press conference.
Mega strike hits commuters in NRW hard: Which trains are still running?
Some of the important local commuter routes in NRW are operated by National Express and the RheinRuhrBahn. They are unlikely to be affected by the strike. These trains are supposed to run in NRW – but there may be cancellations and delays.
- RE1 (NRW-Express): Hamm – Dortmund – Bochum – Essen – Duisburg – Düsseldorf Airport – Düsseldorf – Cologne – Horrem – Düren – Eschweiler – Aachen
- RE4 (Wupper Express): Dortmund – Hagen – Wuppertal – Düsseldorf – Neuss – Mönchengladbach – Herzogenrath – Aachen
- RE5 (Rhein-Express): (Emmerich –) Wesel – Oberhausen – Duisburg – Düsseldorf Airport – Düsseldorf – Cologne – Bonn – Remagen – Andernach – Koblenz
- RE6 (Rhine-Weser Express): Minden – Herford – Bielefeld – Hamm – Dortmund – Bochum – Essen – Duisburg – Düsseldorf Airport – Düsseldorf – Neuss – Dormagen – Cologne – Cologne/Bonn Airport
- RE7 (Rhine-Münsterland Express): Rheine – Munster – Hamm – Hagen – Wuppertal – Solingen – Cologne – Neuss – Krefeld
- RE10 (Niers-Express): Düsseldorf main station – Krefeld main station – Kempen (Lower Rhine) – Geldern – Kleve
- RE11 (Rhein-Hellweg-Express): Dusseldorf – Dusseldorf Airport – Duisburg – Essen – Bochum – Dortmund-Hörde – Unna – Soest – Paderborn – Warburg – Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe
- RE14 (Emscher-Münsterland-Express): Essen main station – Bottrop – Gladbeck West – Dorsten
- RB31 (The Lower Rhine): Duisburg – Moers – Xanten
- RB36 (Ruhrort train): Duisburg-Ruhrort-Oberhausen
- RE44 (Fossa Emscher Express): Bottrop – Oberhausen – Duisburg – Moers
- RB48 (Wupper Lippe Express): Wuppertal-Oberbarmen – Wuppertal – Solingen – Cologne – Bonn – Bonn-Mehlem
In public transport, some buses will also run despite the strike, for example if they are operated by subcontractors who are not on strike. This is the case on Monday with the Rheinbahn in Düsseldorf and the KVB in Cologne, among others. (jr) Fair and independent information about what’s happening in NRW – subscribe to our free 24RHEIN newsletter here.
