Yesterday, I had intentions of traveling by train over to Mainz, getting on a local train, and doing a half-day tour. Course, I got to the Mainz train station safely, but there.....my plan kind of fell apart. The issues with the train station controllers continue. Most of the local runs are cancelled. It's just the major traffic that flows into the station and out.
Big meetings were held between the Bahn management guys and the union. Monday is a critical point because school kids are going back into school locally, and this train system is critical for thousands of kids to go from one town to another.
What the Bahn management guys say....is that they will run a mostly complete schedule in the morning hours to get everyone where they need to be. There's some agreement on the afternoon run, although it would appear it won't be the same one-hundred percent schedule as the morning.
I would say.....after a week....that the locals in Mainz are a bit disturbed over the mess, and can't understand why things can't be fixed after a week of "talks".
The Bahn management folks indicate that they might be willing to bring back some folks that they let go a year or two ago.....as the controllers. Course, this takes union negotiation, and this typically adds up to weeks of talks over phrases, clauses, and money. Some of these let-go folks probably have moved on and found new careers...so the idea of them coming back? Well, it's be an interesting scenario.
The school system is tightly tied into this whole Bahn business now. Over the past couple of decades....schools of a particular type.....like a four-star hardcore science-type school....would be built and kids from forty different communities would ride the bus and rail system......to get to a school forty-five minutes away. It's a Lego-device....all interconnected, and each piece is critical for some kid to get to school by the right time.
As of this morning....the only positive thing that the Bahn will say....is that come 1 September.....the schedule goes back to 100-percent. And for some folks.....that's a long time away.
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