This morning, a disruption to the train radio in northern Germany almost brought rail traffic to a complete standstill. According to the railway and the Federal Ministry of Transport, cables were intentionally damaged in two places.
“Due to sabotage of cables, which are indispensable for train traffic, Deutsche Bahn had to stop train traffic in the north for almost three hours this morning,” said a spokeswoman for the German Press Agency in Berlin at noon. The responsible security authorities had started the investigation.
cable deliberately severed in two places
Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing confirmed on Saturday afternoon that the investigations had revealed evidence of a malicious attack. “We know that the cables were deliberately cut at two different locations in Germany,” said the FDP politician. The background to the crime is not yet known. The federal police are investigating. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) also assumed intent in a message distributed on Twitter.
“We have a crime scene in Berlin-Hohenschönhausen,” said a spokesman for the Federal Police Directorate in Berlin. “Another is in North Rhine-Westphalia.” Security circles said that so-called fiber optic cables were deliberately damaged at the Karower Kreuz in Berlin and in Herne in North Rhine-Westphalia. The backup system also failed.
Train radio – indispensable for train control
In addition to Deutsche Bahn, other companies such as Metronom, Erixx, Enno and Nordwestbahn reported train cancellations on Saturday morning. Metronome and Bahn had announced that the cause was a fault in the digital train radio GSM-R (Global System for Mobile Communications – Rail). “It is used for communication between the control centers that control the train traffic and the trains and is, therefore, an indispensable component for smooth train traffic,” said a railway spokeswoman. If the network fails, the trains have to go to the next station and wait until the disruption is resolved.
Train traffic is slowly starting up again
Meanwhile, the situation on the routes in the north eased, but only slowly. The companies Deutsche Bahn, Metronom and Erixx announced that failures and delays can still be expected. Many trains have been held up at stations because of the disruption and are now overcrowded.
Long-distance and regional traffic affected
All ICE, IC and EC trains in northern Germany were affected, as well as some regional traffic, as the railway announced. The company continues to encourage travelers to educate themselves just before scheduled trips
- www.bahn.de/reiseauskunft
- the app “DB Navigator” or
- to be informed by phone at 030/2970.
In Lower Saxony, Bremen, Hamburg, and Schleswig-Holstein, traffic was temporarily suspended on all regional express and regional train connections on Saturday morning. The S-Bahn traffic in Hamburg, on the other hand, ran normally, and there were no disruptions to regional trains in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania either. Long-distance connections, for example to the Netherlands and Denmark, were also affected. At the Hanover rail junction, where important north-south and east-west rail connections meet, the waiting rail passengers largely remained calm. As in Hamburg, however, there were long queues in front of the information desks.
Bahn offers special goodwill for long-distance travel
The Deutsche Bahn informed on its website about so-called special goodwill in long-distance traffic. All passengers who want to postpone their planned journey due to the disruption can use their ticket booked for Saturday flexibly up to and including seven days after the end of the disruption and cancel seat reservations free of charge.
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