Mainz (dpa / lrs) – After the nationwide warning strike, buses and trains in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland are mostly on schedule again. The regional and S-Bahn traffic is running without strike-related failures, Deutsche Bahn announced on its website on Tuesday morning. In long-distance traffic, however, individual trips were still canceled in the morning hours. The Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) reported on its website that all lines were running smoothly: “Regional trains, S-Bahn trains, underground trains, trams and buses operate everywhere in the RMV area according to the regular timetables.”
A spokesman for Mainz mobility said on Tuesday that local public transport in the Rhineland-Palatinate state capital had started again as planned. A spokesman for the Rhein-Neckar transport association also reported (VRN) that operations would start normally on Tuesday.
The situation quickly normalized across the board, said a spokeswoman for Deutsche Bahn. It had already become apparent on Monday evening that there would be no major start-up difficulties across the board after the end of the warning strike.
According to spokesmen for the Verdi and EVG unions, at least 2,300 people in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland took part in the warning strike on Monday. The strike led to severe impairments in parts of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland: long-distance rail traffic was completely and regionally mostly at a standstill. In Mainz and Ludwigshafen, among other places, urban bus and train services were suspended. In other cities and in Saarland, local public transport ran regularly. On Monday afternoon, the first lines in regional and S-Bahn traffic resumed operations.
With the large-scale warning strike, Verdi wanted to increase the pressure on employers in the public service wage conflict. The third round of negotiations for federal and local employees began on Monday in Potsdam.
Together with the civil servants’ association dbb, Verdi is demanding 10.5 percent and at least 500 euros more wages per month. The railway and transport union (EVG) is negotiating more money with Deutsche Bahn and around 50 other railway companies. The EVG rejected an initial offer from Deutsche Bahn last week.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:230327-99-108900/5
