Chaos on the road as workers head back to the office
Traffic jams on Luxembourg's motorways are back as cross-border workers return
SNCF trains are impacted by a national strike on Tuesday © Photo credit: Lex Kleren
Luxembourg’s roads are the scene of a building post-pandemic chaos as motorists get stuck in significant traffic jams built by cross-border workers forced back into the office, accidents and rail strikes.
A serious accident on the A1 motorway between Kirchberg and Senningerberg involving a lorry caused backups on Tuesday.
Authorities stopped traffic on the main route to Trier for nine kilometres, and local drivers were advised to avoid the area, Automobile Club Luxembourg said.
The afternoon accident compounded commuting woes as striking workers at French state owned railway company SNCF disrupted trains travelling on the Nancy-Metz-Luxembourg route on Tuesday.
The developments came after the Grand Duchy’s teleworking tax arrangements with neighbouring countries allowing cross-border workers greater opportunity to work from home came to an end last week, with more cars clogging Luxembourg’s road anticipated.
Cross-border employees, who made up half of Luxembourg's workforce, rose by 4.4% last year, the country’s statistics agency Statec said in April. Prior to the pandemic, more than 200,000 commuters crossed the border each day in 2019, Statec said previously.
Cross-border workers outstripped the number of Luxembourg residents getting hired, Statec said in a new report on Tuesday.
