German Nationwide Transport Strike on 27-28 February Set to Disrupt Cross-Border Rail and Bus Links with Czechia

Germany’s transport union ‘Greens’ has announced a 48-hour nationwide strike for Friday 27 and Saturday 28 February 2026, halting most municipal rail, metro and bus services. Although the walk-out is domestic, it will ripple across Central Europe, interrupting ICE, EuroCity and regional trains that connect Prague with Berlin, Dresden, Munich and Hamburg, as well as long-distance coaches that rely on German depots for crew changes.

According to Deutsche Bahn’s preliminary contingency timetable, the flagship Prague–Berlin–Hamburg EC service will terminate in Dresden from 03:00 Friday, with onward travel to Berlin provided by limited replacement buses that are not guaranteed to cross the border. Private operator FlixBus has issued a notice that cross-border routes via Nuremberg and Munich may be cancelled or rerouted through Austria, adding up to three hours of travel time. Air services remain unaffected, but seat availability on Prague–Frankfurt and Prague–Munich flights tightened within hours of the strike call.



The industrial action comes at a sensitive time for corporate mobility programmes, many of which rely on same-day rail links between Czech and German manufacturing clusters. Supply-chain managers moving just-in-time components from Ústí nad Labem to Bavarian plants report that alternative trucking capacity is scarce due to simultaneous winter-holiday demand. Czech haulage association ČESMAD Bohemia advises exporters to pre-clear customs documents for potential diversions through Poland.

Travellers who cannot postpone trips should build in generous buffers, purchase fully flexible tickets and monitor live updates on both České dráhy and Deutsche Bahn apps. Employers should remind staff that expense policies may need temporary relaxation to cover hotel overnights in border towns such as Cheb and Děčín if connections fail.

While the union has not ruled out further strikes, German federal mediators are expected to convene talks next week. Czech businesses with significant German exposure should track the negotiations closely and review contingency plans for March, particularly around the busy CeBIT and ITB trade fairs.