Hurricane “Zeynep” is also likely to have a massive impact on rail traffic. (icon picture)
© Jonas Güttler/dpa
Rail traffic in northern Germany was just about to normalize – now it is to be stopped again. Hurricane Zeynep is approaching.
Update from Friday, February 18, 2022, 11:20 am: Hamburg/Hanover/Bremen – As a precaution, regional traffic in northern Germany is to be discontinued during the day. Deutsche Bahn announced this on Friday for Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, Hamburg, Bremen and parts of NRW. The protection of travelers and employees has priority, it said. The German Weather Service warns of severe weather with extreme hurricane gusts and hurricane-like gusts, especially for the northern parts of the country and for central Germany from the afternoon.
“Whoever can, we recommend traveling by train from the late afternoon to an earlier time,” recommended the railway. Passengers can use their tickets booked for the period from Thursday to Sunday flexibly until February 27 or cancel free of charge if they postpone trips because of the storm.
The company “metronom” also announced that it would gradually stop train services between Bremen and Hamburg (RE4/RB41) and on the Hanover-Uelzen-Hamburg route (RE2/RE3/RB31) from 12 p.m. until 2 p.m.
“According to current assessments, train traffic on all lines will probably not resume before Saturday, February 19, around 3 p.m.,” the company said. A rail replacement service with buses will be set up for all lines.
Rail traffic in the north is slowly rolling up again – until the next hurricane
First report from Friday, February 18, 2022, 9:30 a.m.: Storm “Ylenia” raged powerfully in northern Germany, paralyzed rail traffic and caused umpteen hundred fire brigade and police calls. One day after the stormy Thursday, rail traffic in Lower Saxony, Bremen and Hamburg is just beginning to return to normal. Travelers still have to expect restrictions – cancellations and delays.
On Friday, February 18, 2022, the Enno, Metronom and Erixx local trains started operating again. All trains should be traveling at reduced speed until 8:00 a.m., so delays are to be expected. Severe restrictions are to be expected on all lines from noon due to the renewed storm warning, then traffic should gradually be stopped again.
Rail traffic in Lower Saxony, Hamburg and Bremen: IC and ICE are running again
According to Deutsche Bahn, there will also be delays and cancellations in regional transport in Lower Saxony and Bremen on Friday. From Friday evening it is to be expected that the trains will no longer run due to the expected storm.
Train traffic is expected to be possible again from 9:00 a.m. on Saturday after the affected routes have been cleared. According to the information, there are currently isolated partial failures on the section from Hamelin to Paderborn on the S5 route, as well as on the RE9 route between Osnabrück and Bremen.
Long-distance traffic is also slowly recovering. Rail traffic is also running again on the Hanover-Bremen-Hamburg route. Unlike north of Hamburg, for example in Kiel. Long-distance traffic is still severely affected there. The same applies to the international connections from Frankfurt/Main and Berlin to Amsterdam.
Rail replacement service set up in Lower Saxony: Hamburg-Bremen route affected
According to the information, the RE30 route from Hanover to Wolfsburg is only single-track, the RB32 Lüneburg-Danneberg Ost route has not yet been released, and a rail replacement bus service will be set up there. The section between Hanover and Uelzen of line RE3/RE2 can only be used on one track.
On the RE3/RB31 line, the route between Uelzen and Lüneburg is closed due to storm damage, and a rail replacement service with buses has been set up. A number of trains on line RE4 from Hamburg to Bremen will be canceled and line RE41 will be diverted.
Hurricane “Zeynep” is likely to hit rail traffic in northern Germany hard
The normalization of rail traffic in northern Germany is likely to be short-lived. Hurricane “Zeynep” is rolling towards us at incredible speed, it is even supposed to be the most violent storm in 30 years.
With a view to the upcoming storm events, which are to hit Lower Saxony and the north on Friday afternoon, the transport companies are once again expecting massive disruptions, failures and delays in rail traffic. This should then also have an impact on all rail traffic in Germany. (With dpa material) * kreiszeitung.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
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