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TRAVEL NEWS

What train travellers need to know about Germany’s upcoming ‘megastrike’

Starting Sunday at 10 pm, all regional and freight transport in Germany is set to come to a halt for 50 hours. Here's who and which services will be affected, and what you need to know if you're left stranded.

"EVG strike. Long-distance and regional services currently suspended" is written on a display board at the main train station in Nuremberg. With a large-scale nationwide warning strike, the EVG will shut down train travel across much of the country. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Daniel Karmann

What’s going on?

With a 50-hour warning strike, the Railway and Transport Workers’ Union (EVG) wants to bring all rail traffic in Germany largely to a standstill starting Sunday evening.

From 10 pm Sunday until the night of Tuesday to Wednesday at midnight, there will be no long-distance, regional and freight traffic, the EVG announced.

READ ALSO: German transport union announced nationwide 50-hour rail strike

The walkout is the latest in a series of strikes on Germany’s rail system in an escalating dispute between the union and management.

“Workers’ patience is now really exhausted,” said EVG’s deputy chairwoman Cosima Ingenschay.

“We are forced to go on strike for 50 hours to show how serious the situation is,” Ingenschay said at a press conference.

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

Which services will be affected by the strike?

In addition to Deutsche Bahn, around fifty other transport associations have EVG members, who are also likely to strike. 

Deutsche Bahn workers will strike starting Sunday evening. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Bernd Weißbrod

Deutsche Bahn said it anticipated the walkout having a “massive impact” on the rail network. Previous strikes have seen the entirety of the country’s regional and long-distance services grind to a halt.

Workers with most local transport associations though, including Berlin’s BVG and Munich’s MVV, are not part of these associations. That means that while the S-Bahn and regional trains in these cities won’t run during a strike, buses, U-Bahns, and trams can remain in service.

The strike could have far-reaching effects for other European countries, though.

Deutsche Bahn warned that freight services across Europe will also be impacted by the strike, as six out of ten European freight corridors run through the German rail network.

According to Deutsche Bahn, the strike is unlikely to impact train travel over the weekend, before Sunday at 10 pm. 

What is the union demanding?

EVG is calling for a 12-percent pay rise over one year for the workers it represents, with a minimum increase of 650 a month.

EVG has rejected Deutsche Bahn’s offer of a five-percent increase in two steps, covering 27 months, plus an “inflation bonus” of 2,500.

Progress in negotiations over a new pay deal has been “difficult – if there is any at all”, Ingenschay said in a statement.”The existing offers have to be improved considerably.”

Over the last few months, workers in different sectors including healthcare, childcare and transport have gone on strike to demand better conditions. 

Public service workers, however, are no longer striking en masse around Germany after reaching a deal for a 5.5 percent increase in wages.

The industrial unrest comes as consumers struggle with steep increases in prices, as the cost of energy and food has soared.

Inflation has cooled slightly in Germany in recent months but remained very elevated in April at 7.2 percent.

When could the strikes end?

The next round of collective bargaining between EVG and the employees is set to take place at the end of May.

But EVG has already warned that the strike actions could stretch on for weeks on end if a compromise isn’t reached.

“The next strikes will last longer,” Ingenschay told the Süddeutsche Zeitung in an interview in April, adding that the union could “paralyse the train network for weeks” and that this type of action might be necessary “so that it hurts the employer.”

READ ALSO: German rail union threatens week-long strike after failed talks

What should you do if your train is delayed or cancelled?

Those who can’t get to their jobs because of the strike are, unfortunately, not usually entitled to take a paid day off, and must organise for another form of transport.

However, parents who are unable to organise alternative childcare if their Kita (daycare) centre closes – for example, if not enough employees are available to keep it operational – are entitled to paid time off.

A Deutsche Bahn ICE train travels along a railway line in the Hanover region.

A Deutsche Bahn ICE train travels along a railway line in the Hanover region. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Julian Stratenschulte

In certain cases of delay, passengers may be entitled to around €80 in compensation – whether for food, new tickets, or accommodation – from Deutsche Bahn.

Passengers are advised to keep all receipts from that day to prove what they’ve spent during the delay.

Passengers are entitled to a full refund if their train is cancelled. They can also claim a 25 percent rebate if their train is over an hour late – and a 50 percent rebate if it is more than two hours late.

READ ALSO:

What’s the reaction to the strike?

Deutsche Bahn’s human resources chief Martin Seiler blasted the action.

“This insane strike is completely unfounded and overblown,” he said.

“Millions of travellers won’t get where they want to go – to school, to work, to their loved ones,” Seiler said.

German media are dubbing the 50-hour action a ‘megastrike’, similarly as they did to the joint all-day strike between public sector union Verdi and EVG at the end of March. 

The Süddeutsche Zeitung ran an opinion piece with the headline “It’s enough with all the strikes,” arguing that while “of course, workers deserve fair wages”, the management and workers are putting themselves into “absurd conflicts”.

The Berliner Zeitung remained more neutral, simply saying that “The EVG is using the strike to distinguish itself as an industrial action force.”

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WILDLIFE

Southern Germany sees explosion of mosquitos after floods

First flooding, and now a plague of mosquitos: hoards of the annoying bloodsuckers are spreading on Lake Constance. Here's what to expect if you are visiting the region.

Southern Germany sees explosion of mosquitos after floods

After severe floods in southern Germany, conditions are ripe for mosquito populations to explode, according to an expert in the region. 

Rainer Bretthauer, environmental and climate protection officer at the city of Radolfzell on Lake Constance, told DPA that the popular holiday location is already seeing signs of a mosquito plague.

 Bretthauer said that the floods have offered perfect conditions for egg laying, resulting in masses of mosquito offspring.

People living around the area or visiting should be prepared, Bretthauer said. He suggested, for instance, wearing loose-fitting and long clothing.

Timing also plays a role when you’re outside. “They tend to bite during twilight hours when the temperature is higher than 18C,” he said. 

Mosquitos ‘not a bad thing for wildlife’

While growing mosquito hoards may ruin peoples’ camping trips and planned lake vacations, for local wildlife, the mosquitos are a good thing, according to the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (Nabu).

“All the insects that are now developing are a very important food source for many fish species and also for birds,” said Eberhard Klein from Nabu in Constance.

Around 50 species of mosquitoes are known in Germany. Some of them are counted among the so-called floodwater mosquitoes, which increasingly hatch after flooding.

According to experts, these mosquitos are particularly zealous blood hunters, as they have to reproduce quickly before the favourable conditions disappear again.

Floodwater mosquitoes like to lay their eggs on moist soil, often in riparian zones and floodplains. There they can survive in the soil for several years.

When these zones flood and the temperature is favourable, the eggs develop and hatch mosquitos. Therefore large-scale flooding, as seen recently in Southern Germany, can lead to mass hatching.

Mosquito borne illness is spreading to Europe as temperatures warm

Warming temperatures brought by human-caused climate change have allowed mosquito populations to extend further northward in Europe, including disease-carrying species that were previously limited to regions closer to the equator.

For example, the Asian tiger mosquito is not native to Europe but has already been observed in much of southern and central Europe, including Germany.

Tiger mosquitos are particularly concerning because they are known to spread diseases such as dengue fever, chikungunya and Zika virus. Mass outbreaks of these infections have been rising globally. Last year local Dengue outbreaks were recorded in France, Italy and Spain.

With reporting by DPA

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