RAIL travellers in France and Germany are facing major disruptions because of strike actions.
In France many trains were cancelled as public and private sector workers staged a one-day strike linked to the economic crisis.
Regional trains and those in and around Paris were being affected, officials said.
But 40 per cent of regional services and 60 per cent of high-speed TGV services were running, operator SNCF said.
The strikes were in protest against the worsening economic climate in France and at what strikers believe to be the French government's poor handling of the crisis, said the BBC.
In Germany, one day rail strikes were staged in several large cities, including Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, Magdeburg, Nuremburg and Saalfeld.
The unions called for the one-day strikes over pay and working hours at rail operator Deutsche Bahn, which now also operates Chiltern Trains and DB Schenker in Britain.
Talks between DB and trade unions Transnet and GDBA are set to resume on 30 January.
The unions want a 10 per cent wage increase and improved working hours, including at least 12 free weekends per year. Deutsche Bahn has offered its 150,000 employees increases of between 2.7 per cent and 3.0 per cent.