Flights grounded and trains cancelled in Germany as freezing weather hits Europe – live | World news

Munich airport has said that flight operations are “still heavily restricted”.

It added:

There are still severe restrictions in air traffic. The flight schedule is severely reduced due to the extreme weather conditions.

Train service disruptions are ongoing in areas of Germany.

“Rail traffic in southern Germany is expected to be severely affected until Wednesday evening. Massive restrictions are still to be expected in the greater Munich area,” Deutsche Bahn said.

“Due to the onset of winter, there are likely to be delays and cancellations of a train in the south of Germany until midweek,” the train operator said.

Even after the resumption of operations on the affected routes, it is likely that only a very limited train service will be possible due to the major weather-related restrictions.

We therefore expect a very high capacity utilisation of the trains and continue to recommend postponing journeys to and from Munich.

German travel chaos blamed on lack of investment in railways

Kate Connolly

Decades of underinvestment in the German railways have been blamed for chaos in parts of the country after heavy snow led to much of the network grinding to a halt.

Snowfall of up to half a metre in Bavaria, southern Germany, led to numerous breakdowns and prompted the cancellation of scores of trains, with signalling systems and electronic information boards frequently malfunctioning.

Across the country, both rail and road passengers were advised to cancel any unnecessary journeys amid the chaos, after Munich’s main station was closed on Saturday and the national rail operator Deutsche Bahn (DB) warned that “massive disruptions” would continue into the start of this week.

The head of the Railway and Transport Union, Martin Burkert, said DB was ill-equipped to deal with the weather as a result of years of underinvestment.

“The DB slogan ‘we travel in all weathers’ has lost its credibility,” he told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper, calling large parts of Germany’s rail infrastructure “creaking and dilapidated”.

The transport minister, Volker Wissing, of the pro-business FDP, echoed the criticisms, saying the only way to tackle the problems was with a “general overhaul” of the whole network.

“There’s no way round it,” he told German media, calling the breakdowns and lack of punctuality “unsatisfactory”. He added: “This is due to neglect of the infrastructure over decades.”

There are no takeoffs or landings at Munich airport this morning due to freezing rain, the airport said.

In a statement, the airport told travellers:

The operating areas will be de-iced in the first half of the day. The plan is to allow air traffic to resume from midday. However, it can be assumed that the majority of flights will also have to be cancelled during the rest of the day for safety reasons.

The airport had also shut down on Saturday after heavy snowfall.

Good morning and welcome back to the Europe blog.

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