The reason for the short-term suspension of S-Bahn services was large-scale notifications of absence due to illness at short notice in the S-Bahn control rooms. Sickness levels remain high, including among train drivers, the company said on Sunday. This could lead to further isolated cancellations. The timetable information at www.bahn.de will provide information about cancelled connections at short notice.

Meanwhile, the railway and transport union (EVG) is using the cancellations as an opportunity to call for a fundamental railway reform 2.0. "We are currently experiencing a disaster that did not exist in the times of the German Federal Railways," says Rainer Bohnet, chairman of the EVG local association Bonn/Rhein-Sieg. The first thing to do now, he says, is to analyse the causes of a wave of illness that has such a major impact. Then there must be backups that can be drawn on in exceptional situations. "Even if that becomes more expensive. Because fall-back levels cannot be as expensive as a complete failure of a suburban railway system in the Cologne/Bonn/Rhine-Sieg conurbation," says Bohnet.

In view of the current crisis of Deutsche Bahn AG with capacity bottlenecks, staff shortages, delays, train cancellations and accidents like the one near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a re-nationalisation should also be considered, he said. (Original text: Nadine Quadt / Translation: Jean Lennox)