On Saturday services were suspended for three hours – “The cables were cut on purpose”, said the German transport minister
In “sabotage” which targeted radio communication cables, the German authorities attribute the disruption of train services in northern Germany this morning.
For about three hours, all high-speed, regional and freight train services were halted. After traffic was partially restored, the company Deutsche Bahn reported that the problem was due to “sabotage”. This sabotage was aimed at “cables that are extremely necessary for the movement of trains”, he explained.
Transport Minister Volker Vissing confirmed that these cables were “deliberately cut”, stressing that “it is clear that this was a targeted and deliberate action”. The motive “is not yet known,” he added.
The federal police have taken over the investigation.
The problem is found in GSM-R radio connection of trainsthrough which communication is made with the train drivers but also, in general, the central communication between the trains and the control infrastructure”, according to the magazine Spiegel, the first to speak of “suspects of sabotage”, citing sources in the security services.
According to Wissing, the cables were cut in two places. Bild newspaper writes that “fiber optic cables” were cut in Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state. Such an act cannot be done by anyone and the perpetrator needs to have “certain knowledge” of the railway system, sources close to Deutsche Bahn told the newspaper.
Due to this damage, services from Berlin to some areas in western and northern Germany, such as Schleswig-Holstein, the cities of Hamburg and Bremen, Lower Saxony and a part of North Rhine-Westphalia were suspended. The connection between Berlin and Amsterdam was also disrupted and thousands of travelers were stranded at train stations.
Although the train connection has been restored, some services are expected to be canceled or delayed, Deutsche Bahn warned.
RES-EMP
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