German train drivers extended their unprecedented nation-wide strike Thursday to passenger services, causing travel chaos for millions and drawing fierce criticism. The work stoppage by the GDL trade union hit long-distance and regional rail services as well as commuter S-Bahn train networks from 0100 GMT. The strike - the union's sixth bout of industrial action since September - kicked off with freight services on Wednesday, added passenger trains on Thursday and is due to continue until early Monday.
But German rail operator Deutsche Bahn announced it had taken legal action in a bid to halt the walkout, saying it wanted to "do everything it could" to resume service. It said the strike had caused "massive disturbance" but that it aimed to ensure a third of intercity transport services kept running. About one in three regional trains and S-Bahn services were running in the west and north of the country, about 40 percent in the south and between 15 and 30 percent in the east, the company said.
Politicians and industry groups have voiced fears about the impact of the strike, which is the longest in Deutsche Bahn's 20-year history, and will hit weekend celebrations for the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Chancellor Angela Merkel insisted that the right to strike had to be carried out "responsibly" and "with a sense of proportion" in comments to reporters on Wednesday. But she appealed for arbitration so the strikes would "for us as a country do the least possible damage".
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