the german national rail strike of 2007 was a strike in germany by the locomotive engineers union, gewerkschaft deutscher lokomotivführer (gdl, or german train drivers' union), which began on november 14, 2007 and ended on november 17, 2007. the union struck deutsche bahn, the state-owned company which operates the german rail system. it was the largest strike in history (as of 2007) against deutsche bahn.