European Rail Travel - German Train Strikes coming?

I'm have a train ticket from Switzerland (Buchs SG) to Bamberg for Friday (3/11), and my (79 year old) father is arriving at FRA that morning and was planning to meet me (traveling by train). And now I hear about this labor action.

Doing some googling I've seem the gamut from "Don't worry, this is just a negotiating tactic" to "Help, the wold is ending as all trains shut down for weeks." I'm sure the truth is somewhere in the middle. Do any locals have a feel for how serious this is? My "Plan B" is to rent a car and go pick up my Dad but I've never actually driven in Europe (train/bus/tram being more compatible with beer drinking :) ) so it is a little intimidating -- plus not at all cheap at $400-500 plus gas.

My last major trip (last October) got slammed by both Belgian and German rail strikes. This rapidly become non fun :)

This is difficult to predict. The train worker union has promised a 12 hour heads-up notice before a strike will go into effect. The union has further promised that it will concentrate its actions on freight trains, but some passenger trains will surely be affected.

My advice:
Book a rental car for Friday on a fully refundable and cancelable rate. Then just wait until Thursday evening and see whether trains will be operating or not.

Today a train strike was in effect from 4AM to 10AM. I doubt that the union will head out again tomorrow, so you should be safe.

No strikes until Wednesday at least, they promised...

please continue to follow this thread in our dedicated european rail travel forum.
I'll leave a link here in the Germany forum :)

regards,

chrissxb
co-moderator
germany forum