Latest news Winter weather: accidents, long traffic jams and train cancellations in Germany
Snow and slippery roads have led to accidents and long traffic jams in several parts of Germany. Drivers were sometimes stuck for hours. There was at least one fatality and many injuries. In most cases, however, the damage was minor.
04.02.2026, 10:18
SDA
Deutsche Bahn experienced numerous cancellations on Wednesday morning. As reported online by Deutsche Bahn, the ICE Sprinter between Berlin and Bonn (via Hanover and Cologne) was canceled. The same applies to the ICE line from Berlin via Braunschweig and Frankfurt to Karlsruhe.
For hours, severe weather warnings were in place for regions around the northern German city of Bremen. The danger of slippery roads and paths remains.
In Hesse, a man died on a slippery road. According to the police, a 70-year-old driver of an articulated truck veered left into the oncoming lane near Fulda and crashed head-on into an oncoming van. The 51-year-old driver of the van was so seriously injured in the collision on Tuesday that he died at the scene of the accident.
Hours in a traffic jam
The police reported many accidents, for example in Baden-Württemberg in the Heilbronn region, in Thuringia and in Lower Saxony. After the traffic chaos on Tuesday evening, the situation gradually eased in the morning.
During the night, trucks had repeatedly become stuck in the snow, as a police spokesperson reported. Some drivers were stuck in traffic jams for hours. There was a 30-kilometer traffic jam on the A3 freeway.
The "problem child" was mainly the B49 federal highway, a spokesman said. Several trucks were parked across the carriageway. Among those waiting was the mayor of the Hessian town of Weilburg, Johannes Hanisch. He was on his way to an appointment and had been standing for seven hours, he said in a video on Instagram. He later posted: "After ten hours, the road is finally clear again."
Winter road clearance service in constant use
The winter road clearance service was in constant use. In Hamburg, 728 emergency crews with more than 360 vehicles have been on the road since 3.00 a.m., according to the city cleaning service. Among other things, important main roads and routes with bus services, a selected network of cycle paths and bus stops are to be gritted and cleared in the future.
No lessons at schools
In several federal states, face-to-face lessons at schools were canceled - for example in parts of Hesse, Lower Saxony and Bremen.
In Lower Saxony, drivers had to prepare for detours and poorly cleared roads due to a warning strike in the public sector. Because the Verdi trade union has also called for work stoppages at road maintenance depots, restrictions in winter road maintenance are to be expected. "We advise drivers to adapt to the weather conditions and allow more time to get to work," said a Verdi union spokesperson. However, an emergency service has been agreed to ensure that the most important roads remain passable.
According to the German Weather Service, the situation should ease during the course of the day. However, freezing rain is expected until midday, especially from northern Hesse to Emsland and the North Sea. There is an increased risk of black ice due to freezing rain from the Ore Mountains to Lower Lusatia on Thursday night.
