After 120 hours: Deutsche Bahn is back on track after the train drivers’ strike. Gunmen in southeastern Iran shoot nine Pakistanis

The German train drivers’ union (GDL) has prematurely ended the multi-day strike in Deutsche Bahn (DB) passenger transport. A DB spokesperson announced this early on Monday morning. From the moment of commissioning, the railway intends to resume its normal timetable.

“However, isolated restrictions on long-distance transport services will still be in place during Monday,” the report said. “Different regional traffic restrictions may also apply during Monday,” the company warned.

Since the start of the passenger transport strike on Wednesday morning, the railway has been working with an emergency timetable. In long-distance transport, approximately 20 percent of the usual supply was en route. With the emergency timetable, the railway wanted to ensure that work continued as smoothly as possible after the strike. The strike in freight transport ended on Sunday evening.

Premature end

The strike was actually expected to last until 6 p.m. on Monday evening, in both passenger and freight traffic. However, the railway and the GDL agreed on Saturday evening to an early end and new negotiations from February 5. These must be kept behind closed doors. Both parties stated that the goal was to reach a collective labor agreement in early March. A peace obligation applies until March 3, so strikes are not a problem at the moment.

Models for shortening working hours will be discussed during the coming negotiations. The railroad has also agreed to discuss an increase in fixed fees. Until now, the federal company had always spoken out in favor of percentage increases. Fixed amounts are generally especially beneficial for lower income groups and are therefore often preferred by trade unions for negotiating purposes.

A firm agreement has already been reached on the payment of an inflation compensation bonus of 1,500 euros in March. For employees, this benefit is tax and tax free, so gross equals net.

Months of conflict

The collective bargaining dispute between the railroads and the GDL began in early November. The union entered negotiations demanding three hours less weekly working time for shift workers with the same pay. She also wanted to achieve 555 euros more pay for a collective labor agreement term of twelve months.

Deutsche Bahn’s current offer will deliver 4.8 percent more money to employees from August and another 5 percent more from April 2025. Under this offer, from January 2026, drivers and train conductors can choose between a further wage increase of 2.7 percent or working one hour less per week. (sda/dpa)