Deutsche Bahn and transport union EVG agreed to a settlement before the labour court in Frankfurt am Main, as the state-owned company announced on Saturday. 

“Due to this, we have suspended the strike for the time being,” EVG said in a statement.

The strike, set to start Sunday at 10 pm, would lead to a 50-hour long standstill of long-distance, regional and freight train traffic.

However, EVG stressed that the strike was still valid for the other 49 railway companies it represents. Only the action at Deutsche Bahn – which also oversees most S-Bahn trains – has been cancelled.

READ ALSO: German transport union announces new round of train strikes

Delays still expected

Delays and disruptions are however still expected in the next days across the rail network, Deutsche Bahn said, as it needed to work through the mass changes that had arisen because of the planned strike.

“DB is facing the major challenge of rescheduling around 50,000 train journeys and the associated shift and deployment schedules,” it said in a statement.

DB intends to provide a new timetable starting at noon on Saturday, which train travellers can also check online. 

Urgent overturn

On Friday evening, Deutsche Bahn filed an “emergency application” (Eilantrag) with the Frankfurt labour court to prevent the strike from going ahead. 

It said the planned walkout was “disproportionate” and would harm customers and “uninvolved third parties”.

EVG said the rail operator “told the court unequivocally that it would fulfil our minimum wage requests”.

“On the advice of the court, the employer and us reached a settlement,” added the EVG spokesman.

EVG represents 230,000 workers across some 50 transport companies, including Deutsche Bahn.

“Deutsche Bahn’s trip to the labour court was worth it for everyone,” said DB personnel director Martin Seiler, according to the statement. 

With the settlement, both sides also agreed, according to DB, to “now negotiate swiftly and constructively with the aim of reaching an agreement soon”.

Deutsche Bahn bosses previously offered a ten percent raise for employees on lower to middle incomes and an eight percent raise for those on higher incomes, as well as a €2,850 one-off payment to help with rising living costs.

Deutsche Bahn called the offer fair, and had criticised the upcoming actions.

“Announcing strikes in response to this is completely excessive and totally disproportionate. There is ten percent on the table, the highest offer in DB history,” said Seiler last week.

With reporting by AFP