The German Train Drivers' Union (GDL) called for another strike affecting long-distance, regional and freight transport for 24 hours, this one to begin at 2 am (0100 GMT) on Tuesday.
The industrial action is to run until 2 am on Wednesday and comes just days after the last strike, when much of the nation's trains were brought to a standstill in a bitter labour dispute.
The union's announcement on Sunday is set to bring passenger and freight transport to a virtual halt, by now familiar to travellers amid the months-long wage dispute between the GDL and German rail operator Deutsche Bahn.
Union leader Claus Weselsky had already announced before the previous strike that the railway and passengers would be given significantly less time to prepare for industrial action in future.
Since the employer, the Deutsche Bahn, has allowed the union's deadline to submit a written offer by Sunday at 6 pm (1700 GMT) to pass "without having achieved anything," it is continuing to provoke the union, "inevitably forcing the GDL to continue the dispute, to the chagrin of DB customers," the union said.
