The two railway unions EVG and GDL are extremely concerned about the situation at Deutsche Bahn.

"I have never experienced such conditions as this summer," said the deputy chairman of the railway and transport union (EVG), Martin Burkert, the "Welt am Sonntag".

"I saw people literally fall off the train on a train from Rostock to Hamburg when the doors opened," he said.

The rush of passengers on local transport since the beginning of June has led to severe signs of wear and tear.

"We see damage from the heavy use of the 9-euro ticket very early on: elevators are broken, toilets on trains no longer work, everything is simply put under a lot of strain," said Burkert.

"Many colleagues are already at the breaking point." The number of sick days is high and rising, "we notice: the nine-euro ticket makes you sick".

The chairman of the train drivers' union GDL Claus Weselsky spoke of chaos this summer as he had never experienced at the railway, "it's the absolute worst case scenario," he told the newspaper.

The state of the state-owned company was "catastrophic due to years of broken savings".

He again advocated clearly separating network and operations, at least within the group.