Millions of commuters in Germany have faced widespread delays after a strike by railworkers over pay halted trains.
Inter-city and regional services, along with many urban commuter networks, were hit, operator Deutsche Bahn (DB) said.
The four-hour strike ended at 09:00 (08:00 GMT) but delays were expected to continue throughout the day.
The strike came after talks broke down on Saturday between DB and railworkers’ union EVG, which has demanded a 7.5% salary rise for 160,000 DB employees.
“It is our colleagues who work around the clock, 365 days a year, to ensure passenger and freight traffic in Germany… despite permanent staff shortages and the resulting many overtime,” EVG’s Managing Director Torsten Westphal said in a statement.
“We return to the negotiating table when DB AG makes it clear they we want to negotiate seriously with us.”
DB criticised the strike by EVG, Germany’s largest railworkers’ union, as a “completely unnecessary escalation,” and in a tweet denied that it had broken off the talks.
The rail operator said it had offered a 5.1% pay rise in two stages and a one-off payment of €500 (£448; $570). DB says that these, together, are equivalent to a 7% rise.
The latest wave of strikes come only a day after DB increased the price of rail tickets by an average of 1.9%.
BBC
