Some railway services in Germany resumed on Saturday after Storm Elli had brought the north of the country to a standstill, but major restrictions remained as meteorologists warned of more snow set to come down over the weekend.

Long-distance rail services, which were suspended in northern Germany on Friday amid heavy snowfall, are set to continue to see disruptions until Sunday, a spokeswoman for operator Deutsche Bahn told dpa.

Among others, the key Hamburg-Hanover-Frankfurt and Berlin-Hanover-Dusseldorf links remain affected, she said.

Other long-distance services also remained suspended, for example to Denmark and the Netherlands.

Regional services had been expected to slowly resume on some routes during the day, but in many places, buses and regional trains were not yet up and running again.

New weather front approaching

Since Storm Elli struck on Friday, northern and eastern Germany have seen heavy snow drifts and many accidents.

The south, which was initially spared the worst, is set to be hit by heavy snowfall overnight, especially the Black Forest and Allgäu regions, meteorologists said.

The German Weather Service said up to 30 centimetres of fresh snow might come down in the region during the night, with up to 50 centimetres forecasts for higher areas in the Black Forest.

On Monday, freezing rain is expected to hit large parts of the country as temperatures are set to rise slightly, with a high risk of black ice in south-western areas, according to the weather service.

Winter chaos not only in Germany

Winter weather is also causing exceptional conditions in other parts of Europe.

In France, hundreds of thousands of households were without electricity and a nuclear power plant was shut down as a precaution.

In Russia, numerous flights were cancelled, especially in Moscow, while a man in his 50s was killed in England when a tree crashed onto his caravan.