German Rail Operator Says Strike Cost 10 mln Euros

Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee has warned the strikes could have a disastrous impact on Europe's largest economy.

German rail operator Deutsche Bahn said on Friday a 30-hour train drivers' strike had cost it over 10 million euros ($14.3 million).

The walkout, the longest in a showdown over wages between the GDL drivers' union and Deutsche Bahn, ended at 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) on Friday but service disruptions were expected to continue into the afternoon.

"Some 2.7 million commuters were hit and the strike also had an economic impact," Deutsche Bahn executive Karl-Friedrich Rausch said in a statement, putting the damage for the company at over 10 million euros.

"We made our fifth wage offer days ago. It is time for the union to stop its repeated refusals."

Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee has warned the strikes could have a disastrous impact on Europe's largest economy.

GDL, which represents some 34,000 train drivers, says its workers are underpaid compared with counterparts elsewhere in Europe and is seeking pay rises of up to 31 percent and an independent collective labour agreement.

It has rejected deals struck between Deutsche Bahn and two other, larger rail unions for pay increases of 4.5 percent. It ha slso refused a separate offer which Bahn says amounts to a 10 percent wage hike and a one-off payment of 2,000 euros ($2,845).

"The Bahn board has to come up with a better offer," Claus Weselsky, deputy head of the GDL, told reporters in Frankfurt. He said GDL would wait until Monday afternoon before deciding its next steps.

The stoppages this week affected only local and regional services as a court has banned walkouts on long-distance and freight trains. Another court in Chemnitz, eastern Germany, will hear an appeal against that ruling next Friday.

On Thursday, many commuters drove to work, causing heavy traffic and jams, especially on the outskirts of big cities.

Rail strikes are rare in Germany. A Forsa survey for Stern magazine indicated support for the train drivers was waning. Some 45 percent of Germans polled said they supported the strike, down from 55 percent at the beginning of October.

Deutsche Bahn, which is due to be partially privatised by 2009, is Europe's largest rail and transport firm and carries more than 5 million passengers daily on some 28,000 trains. It had a turnover in the first half of 2007 of 15.3 billion euros.