The region has mastered the first two warning strikes by the railway workers’ union EVG in recent weeks. But now things are getting much tougher: Train traffic in Germany will be stopped for 50 hours. Also in Berlin-Brandenburg there will be no regional trains and no long-distance trains. Since the S-Bahn also belongs to Deutsche Bahn, it is also discontinued. The only alternative in Berlin is the BVG, which is not on strike. Because the BVG has its own collective agreement, which is currently not being negotiated.
But the commuters from the surrounding area have nothing of that. From Potsdam or Falkensee or Eberswalde to Berlin, that’s only possible by train. According to the railway and transport union (EVG), the third warning strike will begin on Sunday evening and continue all day Monday and Tuesday. So the first trains won’t run again until Wednesday.
Alternative: Taxi or bike
Once again, employees “from all areas of DB” are called to walk out, it said. This is very bad news for the region: because if there is a strike in the signal boxes and control centers, the private competition cannot operate either. The Ostdeutsche Eisenbahn GmbH (Odeg), which operates several important regional express lines, including the RE1 and the RE8, on behalf of the Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg (VBB), is therefore also affected.
Likewise, the few “green” long-distance trains from FlixTrain will not run. An exception is the Niederbarnimer Eisenbahn (NEB), which runs its own routes. Since the Karow terminus, which is important for the NEB, is controlled by the DB, the RB27 could only run as far as the Schönerlinde station during the last two strikes.
If you don’t have your own car but really want to go to Berlin, you have these alternatives: bikes, taxis and car-sharing vehicles. Rides can be pre-ordered for taxis, as has been the case for a few months with the driving service provider Uber.
The taxi industry benefited little from the first two strikes this year. The Berlin traffic information center reported only minor traffic jams on the city freeway in the morning, and the Brandenburg police also reported no increased traffic on the freeways and country roads.
The BVG is not on strike
In Berlin, the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) are again ready to rescue. As with the March and April strikes, it will be busier than usual. “The BVG will put the maximum possible number and size of vehicles on the roads and rails. Nevertheless, passengers should be prepared for fuller vehicles and somewhat longer waiting times” – this is now the standard formulation of the BVG. During the first strikes, the BVG had announced that the control centers in particular would be strengthened “in order to manage the expected greater demand in the best possible way”. Then came the big but: “Of course, even with full commitment, we cannot fully compensate for major failures on the S-Bahn.”
As is well known, the company has no personnel and vehicle reserves, so only a very small number of additional vehicles can drive. However, there was no chaos on buses, trams or the subway. Only in exceptional cases were buses or trains so full that passengers had to wait for the next one.
At the end of March, traffic with trains, buses and planes in Berlin came to a standstill for the first time for 24 hours. A second, half-day strike followed on a Friday in mid-April.
