The ‘Together Against Corona’ agreement also allows parents who do not have childcare cover following school and day care closures to take a total of 15 days leave fully paid. Workers unable to conduct their normal daily activities due to the disruption caused by the coronavirus measures and with no options available to continue activity remotely will also receive full pay.
DB, EVG and GDL say the emphasis is on protecting the health of employees, their families and customers as much as possible while at the same time maintaining operation of the railway network for as long as possible in order to sustain transport services in Germany. The measures will remain in place until July 31.
“It is an important signal that we stand together in the crisis and go hand in hand for DB employees," says DB’s HR director Mr Martin Seiler.
DB has acted to minimise the spread of coronavirus by installing plexiglass panes at travel centres at stations and only checking tickets on trains by sight.
Cross-border suspensions
Unlike other countries which have introduced reduced timetables in light of falling demand for services, DB reports that local, long-distance and freight traffic remains stable with restrictions only on cross-border traffic. Regional services are at the discretion of individual state transport authorities with services now reduced or suspended in Bavaria, Rhineland- Palatinate, Saarland, North Baden, North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Baden-Württemberg, and Hessen. Most reductions are likely to last until at least April 19.
The cross-border services currently suspended are:
Austria and Switzerland
- Munich - Kufstein - Innsbruck - Vienna
- Munich - Lindau - Zürich
- Hamburg - Cologne - Mannheim - Basle - Zürich/Interlaken, and
- Frankfurt - Basle - Milan
The following trains are not running their complete route:
- Berlin/Hamburg/Dortmund - Mannheim - Basle is not continuing to Basle Main Station and Zürich/Chur/Interlaken, and
- Stuttgart - Zürich trains are now operating every two hours and do not continue beyond Singen and Schaffhausen.
France
The following trains are suspended:
- ICE and TGV Frankfurt (M) - Mannheim - Saarbrücken - Paris
- ICE/TGV: Frankfurt (M)/Stuttgart - Strasbourg - Paris, and
- TGV Frankfurt (M ) - Mannheim - Strasbourg - Marseille.
Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark
The following services are suspended:
- ICE Frankfurt (M) - Cologne - Oberhausen - Utrecht - Amsterdam
- ICE Frankfurt (M) - Cologne – Brussels
- IC Hamburg - Padborg - Copenhagen services
The following services are partially suspended:
- IC Berlin - Hannover - Bad Bentheim do not continue to Amsterdam.
- IC Hamburg - Flensburg trains are not continuing to Padborg and Aarhus in Denmark.
Poland
- Berlin - Frankfurt (Oder) - Warsaw Central trains are suspended
- Regional cross border trains between Berlin-Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania region and Poland have also been suspended following the Polish government’s decision to close the border.
Czech Republic
- (Kiel -) Hamburg - Berlin - Dresden - Prague (- Budapest) services are suspended between Germany and Czech Republic.
