By Caroline Copley
BERLIN (Reuters) - Central Berlin's local rail service was severely disrupted on Monday due to enforced safety checks, affecting more than 400,000 commuters and tourists.
The idling of up to 386 of Deutsche Bahn's 551 S-Bahn trains is expected to last until December due to safety checks on wheels that were ordered by the federal rail authority.
Berlin's usually efficient rail service had been gradually deteriorating in recent weeks before Monday, when hundreds more trains were suddenly taken off for the extensive safety checks. About 1.3 million people use the trains every day.
Many passengers were forced to switch to packed underground trains or buses. "I'm annoyed and really angry," said Mario Schneider, a passenger stranded at Ostbahnhof station. "It's clearly the management's fault. They should be sacked, they get off too lightly."
Two months before a federal election and ahead of August's World Athletics Championships, the unscheduled interruption of Berlin's rapid transit rail service has prompted an ugly round of finger-pointing between Bahn and local officials.
Political leaders fault Deutsche Bahn's privatisation efforts and cost-cutting for the transport fiasco. Deutsche Bahn has said the manufacturers of the equipment are to blame.
The idling of so many trains has given fresh ammunition to critics of the Bahn's planned privatisation. In October, the German government postponed plans to privatise nearly a quarter of the group's transport, logistics and services business.
On Monday only one in three S-Bahn trains was in use, while inner-city service between Ostbahnhof and Zoo stations -- two major city centre hubs -- was completely suspended.
"It's a real nightmare," said tourist Marisa Leckner, a 35-year-old physician visiting Berlin from southwest Germany.
"We wanted to go the central station but we had to get off the train six stops early and find another way over here."
The safety checks were ordered by the federal rail authority after a cracked wheel caused the derailment of a train in May.
(Editing by Mark Trevelyan)