The first wave of strikes lasting up to three hours began at 3 a.m. and forced the cancellation of at least 15 trains in Cologne and Saarbruecken while many regional trains had lesser delays of an hour, according to the Transnet rail workers union.

Transnet leader Karl-Heinz Zimmermann said the union was protesting against plans by the government, which owns Deutsche Bahn (German Railways), to separate the 34,000-km track infrastructure when it privatises the national rail operator.

"We only wanted to cause brief delays with our strike today," said Zimmermann. "We don't want to anger the customers because we want to attack those who deserve it -- the employer, that is to say the Deutsche Bahn management and the owner."

Deutsche Bahn executives have also spoken out against splitting off the track infrastructure from the company. Deutsche Bahn Chairman Hartmut Mehdorn has said that could delay its stock market listing by up to five years.

Deutsche Bahn has an annual turnover of some 25 billion euros ($32 billion). Some members of the ruling coalition want to separate the track from the railway company to promote competition and prevent discrimination against rival firms.

The union is worried that job guarantees included in a contract that runs to 2010 would be lost if the track infrastructure was separated from Deutsche Bahn, and that this could lead to the loss of up to 10,000 jobs by 2010.

Talks among government ministers and party leaders on the track issue ended on Thursday with no agreement. Deutsche Bahn talks with the union on job guarantees also had no result. Deutsche Bahn does not want to negotiate with unions until the track question is settled.

"We didn't get any clear offer on Thursday and if that doesn't change, we'll have a big rail strike in Germany for the first time," said Zimmermann.

The union will expand the strike to the whole country on Monday to increase pressure on the government and management if no progress is made towards meeting its demands, he said.

See also:

German Rail Workers' Warning Strike Causing Delays

Deutsche Welle: 29.09.2006

Rail workers unions could not agree with Deutsche Bahn about job cuts
 
In the midst of a privatization dispute with the government, German rail workers walked off their jobs on Friday morning, causing transportation delays in three states.

According to the Transnet and GDBA labor union officials, around 1,700 rail workers in Germany joined the warning strike on Friday morning more than two weeks after negotiations with the state-owned railway company Deutsche Bahn over job security ended without compromise.
 
"We hoped until the last moment for a negotiable offer from the employer," said Transnet chief Norbert Hansen and GDBA president Klaus-Dieter Hommel in a statement.
 
Three German states -- North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate -- were affected with commuter and regional train service delayed or interrupted in several large cities, including Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund.
 
Job security
 
Deutsche Bahn is one of Germany's last major state assets. The Transnet and GDBA was in negotiations with Deutsche Bahn about safeguarding workers' jobs after the German government sells off up to half of the railway company for billions of euros in 2008.
 
But the unions broke off the negotiations on Sept. 13 after Deutsche Bahn said it couldn't guarantee the jobs through 2010 if the government decided to sell only transport operations and keep the rail network, including tracks and stations, in public hands.
 
Chancellor Anglea Merkel's cabinet is expected to make a decision on whether it will be selling the tracks next month.
 
The planned initial public offering of Deutsche Bahn will be Germany's last big privatization project.