Railroad strike in Germany: The train drivers trike belonging to the Germany trade union GDL will last as long as 5 days, from today. Passenger service will be suspended on September 2 at 2:00 am. The strike will last 5 days and will end on Tuesday, September 7 at the same time.
In connection with the protest, passengers must take into account significant travel difficulties, both on long-distance and local routes. Practical advice for passengers on how to recover money for unused tickets has been published on the website of the “Tagesschau” daily.
Following the protest, Deutsche Bahn is asking its customers to postpone long-haul trips scheduled from September 2 to 6, if they are not necessary. German railroad customers can find out which connections are affected by strikes from news posted on the internet.
Flexible tickets for the duration of the railroad strike in Germany:
The main thing is to reach your destination: anyone who booked a long-distance train journey between September 2 and 7 can use their ticket flexibly, informs Deutsch Bahn on its website.
This means you can use your ticket now or travel until September 17th. Seat reservations can be changed free of charge.
Also, travellers using local transport will have the right to use the so-called flexible tickets. The website of the German Railways says: “You can use your ticket immediately / or until 09/17/2021 inclusive, if necessary using a different route.” This applies to tickets purchased before the start of the strike on September 2.
If you are travelling on a more expensive long-distance train – for example ICE instead of a regional train – you will need to buy the more expensive ticket first or make a surcharge, and then claim the over-payment through it.
The money will be returned to you at the travel centre or via the website. However, this does not apply to offers with large discounts, such as the so-called Quer-durchs-Land-Ticket or Länder-Tickets.
Travel cancellation and ticket refund:
Travellers affected by a long-distance train strike who wish to cancel their journey can cancel tickets and seat reservations free of charge and receive a refund. There is an online ticket refund form on the Deutsche Bahn website.
On local transport, the ticket price is 100% refunded if rail passengers arrive at their destination station with a delay of at least 60 minutes due to a strike or because they were unable to start their journey.
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Travelers with a monthly pass or other season tickets will be compensated for delays of 60 minutes or more. This is a flat rate: for long-distance tickets it is EUR 5 in the second class and EUR 10 in the case of the BahnCard 100.
You can find more information on compensation for travel disruptions and refunds on the “Tagesschau” website .
Source: Tagesschau.de