DAccording to Deutsche Bahn, the large-scale failures in train traffic in northern Germany are due to sabotage. “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 on Saturday. The responsible security authorities had started the investigation.
It was previously said that the severe problems in northern Germany were due to a disruption in the digital train radio GSM-R (Global System for Mobile Communications – Rail). A railway spokeswoman said: “It is used for communication between the control centers that control the train traffic and the trains and is therefore an indispensable part of smooth train traffic.”
In the meantime, the railway has announced that the disruption to the train radio has been resolved. “Long-distance traffic in the affected areas is currently starting up again,” the company wrote on its website. Due to the after-effects, however, delays and cancellations could continue. According to the company, a high utilization of the first trains is to be expected.
Countless passengers were stranded on Saturday morning at the major train stations such as Hanover, Hamburg and Berlin. Long queues formed at information desks, while the large display boards in the station halls were either completely empty or information was given about “indefinitely late” trains or complete cancellations.
Travelers have to wait a long time
At the Hanover rail junction, where important north-south and east-west rail connections meet, the waiting rail passengers were largely calm, according to information from the dpa. Many of them would have stood shaking their heads in front of the large display board that informed about the train cancellations. But there was no aggressive mood.
Later, the train wanted to start distributing coffee and tea to those waiting. Outside, small groups had formed at the taxi rank and tried to get by in small car pools by taxi to the next big city.
In Hamburg at 10.49 a.m. the first long-distance train, the ICE 509 to Munich via Berlin and Erfurt, left the main station, as a dpa reporter reported there. It was half an hour late and heavily overcrowded.
International connections were also affected. IC trains between Berlin and Amsterdam didn’t run like that at all. IC trains from Copenhagen terminated at the Danish-German border in Padborg. There was also some standstill with regional trains – for example with RE and RB connections in Lower Saxony, Bremen and Schleswig-Holstein, as the railway announced.
The company recommended travelers traveling between Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia and between Berlin and Baden-Württemberg or Switzerland to use connections via Erfurt and Frankfurt/Main.
In general, Deutsche Bahn recommended that its travelers inform themselves shortly before planned trips via www.bahn.de/reiseauskunft, via the “DB Navigator” app or by calling 030/2970. The Bahn website said: “As soon as we have new information, we will keep you updated here.”
