Germany's migrant flows endure, diverted to idyllic Bavaria

63,000 migrants have come by rail to Bavaria’s state capital Munich since August 31

Freilassing

: Rolling hills give way to fog-shrouded Alpine peaks at the latest German migrant flashpoint, with war-scarred refugees unbowed by Berlin's shock decision to impose border checks.

Around 1,000 asylum-seekers have crossed the frontier from Austria since Germany announced its policy U-turn Sunday, albeit at a slower pace than in recent weeks, federal police spokesman Rainer Scharf told the media in the southern German town of Freilassing.

About 10 suspected people smugglers have been detained on the motorway since late Sunday night, he added.

The new measures are intended to provide relief to the Bavarian state capital Munich in particular, where around 63,000 migrants have come by rail to the main station since August 31, including 20,000 over each of the last two weekends.

Now police stationed in small border towns such as picture-postcard Freilassing, with its neat geranium-adorned farmhouses and pretty church steeples, are picking up refugees before they even reach the urban centres.

\"Until now everyone was being shuttled to Munich,\" Scharf said. \"Now we are carrying out a kind of pre-registration, taking people's names and so forth. Then they are being put on buses and can be distributed throughout Germany.\"

Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman insisted Monday that the country was not slamming its doors to refugees but argued the new measures were needed to restore order to the asylum process.

The railway station in Freilassing has now seen rail services from Austria resume after a brief interruption early Monday but confusion for travellers reigned and road traffic remained snarled.

Police officers were tasked with removing migrants from trains and taking their personal details, giving each person a green wristband to mark them as \"registered\" before social workers and volunteers provided many with food and drinks and a bunk for the night.