Nationwide strike to shut down German public transport on Friday and Saturday

Ver.di has called on public transport employees across Germany to strike on February 27 and 28, 2026. Here’s what passengers need to know:

Nationwide transport strike in Germany

Public transport will be disrupted across all 16 federal states on Friday and Saturday as public transport employees take part in a 48-hour strike.

U-Bahns, trams and buses will not run or only run on a limited emergency timetable from the early hours into Friday, during Friday and Saturday. Normal services will resume in the early hours of Sunday.

Since they are run by Deutsche Bahn, S-Bahn services, regional trains and long-distance trains will all still run as normal on Friday and Saturday.

Why are transport workers striking?

Ver.di, one of Germany’s largest trade unions, represents around 100.000 transport employees and is currently negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement on their behalf.

The union is demanding that weekly working hours and the length of shifts be reduced, that rest periods between shifts be increased and that employees receive higher allowances for working night-time hours and during the weekend.

Transport employees took part in a warning strike on February 2, and negotiations are now moving into the fifth round. “This is more than disappointing,” ver.di representative Christine Behle said in a press release.

“[E]mployers clearly still do not understand that there can be no functioning public transport service in the long term if we do not make decisive improvements to working conditions now.”