German rail drivers escalate severe strike

By Sylvia Westall

BERLIN, Nov 15 (Reuters) - German train drivers escalated a 62-hour strike early on Thursday, adding disruption to passenger services to a freight stoppage in a long-running dispute with rail operator Deutsche Bahn.

The strike, which has raised fears about the impact on Europe's biggest economy, is the worst in Deutsche Bahn's history. The freight stoppages started at 1100 GMT on Wednesday and have brought goods trains in east Germany to a standstill.

"Even without exactly quantifying it, the rail strike does have an economic effect and is a burden on an otherwise positive economy," government spokesman Thomas Steg told a regular news conference in Berlin on Wednesday.

The passenger train strike began at 0100 GMT. Both strikes will end at 0100 GMT on Saturday.

Economists say the strike on freight routes costs the economy 50 million euros ($73.3 million) a day and could rise to 500 million euros if the strikes last more than a week. Deutsche Bahn said it was drafting in 1,000 workers to help provide replacement services and it would try to keep international and high speed, long-distance passenger trains running.

The company says it expects up to 50 percent of regional trains will run. Around 20 percent of urban trains will run in Berlin and 40 percent in Hamburg, Deutsche Bahn said.

The GDL, which says its workers are underpaid compared to drivers in other European countries, is demanding that Deutsche Bahn makes a new wage offer.