Germany introduces border controls at Austrian border, halts trains


German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Sunday that Germany had temporarily introduced controls along its border with Austria in an attempt to reduce the number of asylum seekers arriving in the country."At this moment Germany is temporarily introducing border controls again along (the EU's) internal borders. The focus will be on the border to Austria at first," he said."The aim of these measures is to limit the current inflows to Germany and to return to orderly procedures when people enter the country," he said, adding that this was also necessary for security reasons.Germany has stopped letting trains enter its territory from Austria, a spokeswoman for the Austrian rail company, OeBB, said on Sunday.Tens of thousands of people, many of them refugees from Syria, have crossed Austria by train on their way to Germany since the two countries threw open their borders to the migrants last weekend. A record number were expected to enter Austria from Hungary on Sunday."No more trains will run from Austria to Germany," the spokeswoman said. "The Germans will not take over any trains."Ruediger Grube, the chief executive of Deutsche Bahn , the German rail operator, had informed his Austrian counterpart of the suspension, the spokeswoman said."The OeBB CEO, Christian Kern, was informed by Ruediger Grube that rail traffic will be stopped immediately," the spokeswoman said, adding that 1,800 people were on trains in Austria headed for Germany.Meanwhile, President of the EU Commission Jean-Claude Juncker said that German border controls show the urgent need to agree EU migrant proposals at Monday's meeting.However, Slovakia will veto any decision on mandatory quotas for distribution of migrants among EU member states at a meeting on Sept 14, Slovak Interior Minister Robert Kalinak said on Sunday.