Euphoria has dimmed
“Worst time”: Rail strike hits European Championship makers hard
January 8, 2024, 5:20 p.m
The European Handball Championship marks the beginning of a major sporting event. The creators rely on Deutsche Bahn as a mobility partner for teams, fans and officials. This is now causing problems.
The announced strike at Deutsche Bahn poses a number of problems for the organizers of the European Handball Championships in Germany and has clouded the anticipation of the mega event. “I have to make no secret of the fact that we are not happy about this. This is coming at the worst possible time,” said Mark Schober, CEO of the German Handball Association, at a press conference in Cologne.
The train drivers want to go on strike from Wednesday – the day of the opening of the European Championship – to Friday. This would lead to far-reaching restrictions on passenger transport by rail. Deutsche Bahn, which is the organizer of the EM mobility partner, wants to stop the industrial action using legal means. The outcome is still uncertain.
Hope for a quick agreement
“The rail strike presents us with a major challenge. We continue to hope that the railway and the train drivers’ union will come to an agreement so that the impact on the European Championships remains as small as possible. Maybe even this week,” said Schober added: “If not, we hope it will have as little impact as possible.”
The European Championship organizers have already taken measures to avoid major chaos at the start of the tournament. “There will be a special timetable for the teams, officials and fans who have bought a ticket,” announced Schober. In addition, “additional parking spaces have been created around the Düsseldorf football arena, where around 53,000 fans are expected for the German opening game against Switzerland on Wednesday, because we assume that more people will come by car”.
Schober left it open whether the association or the railway would bear the possible additional costs. First of all, it is important to manage the problem professionally, said the DHB CEO and announced: “At the end we will talk to our colleagues about the extent to which there are solutions based on partnership.”