An act of “sabotage” paralyzes rail traffic in Germany

Published on: 08/10/2022 – 15:22Modified on: 08/10/2022 – 15:24 German rail traffic was paralyzed on Saturday in the north of the country after an act of “sabotage” targeting radio link cables . All regional and high-speed lines were interrupted for nearly three hours. An act of “sabotage” targeting radio link cables caused, on Saturday, October 8, the paralysis of rail traffic in northern Germany. For nearly three hours on Saturday morning, all high-speed and regional connections in the north of the country were interrupted. After the partial restoration of traffic, the company Deutsche Bahn claimed that “sabotage” was at the origin of the failure. This sabotage targeted “cables essential to the circulation of trains”, specified to AFP the German company. It would be more precisely the GSM-R radio network of trains used for communication with drivers but also, more globally, of “central interface between trains and infrastructure” of control, according to Spiegel, the first media to evoke, citing security sources, suspicions of sabotage. Travelers stranded However, these essential cables could have been cut “in two places”, says Spiegel. “Fiber optic cables” would have been cut in Berlin and in North Rhine-Westphalia (west), the most population of Germany, abounds the popular daily Bild. An action targeting this cable would not be within reach of the first comer and would require “certain knowledge” of the rail system, underline sources close to Deutsche Bahn with Bild, specifying that the federal police is in charge of the investigation. The incident notably led to an interruption of connections between Berlin and certain regions in the west and north of the country such as Schleswig-Holstein, the cities of Hamburg and Bremen or even Lower Saxony and part of North Rhine-Westphalia. The Berlin-Amsterdam link had also been suspended. Thousands of travelers thus remained stranded in stations on Saturday morning. Cancellations and delays were still to be expected on Saturday during the day despite the restoration of rail links, warned Deutsche Bahn. Reinforced surveillance This act comes just over two weeks after sabotage actions targeting the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines linking Russia to Germany. The German government had in the process reinforced the protection of its critical infrastructures. The company Deutsche Bahn is regularly singled out for the numerous delays on its lines. It had thus announced at the beginning of September that it had to carry out titanic works, in particular the replacement of 137,000 concrete sleepers, to upgrade its tracks. The derailment of a train in the Bavarian Alps in early June, which had caused the death of five people and left more than 40 wounded, had brought a tragic illustration of the poor state of the German lines, linked to years of underinvestment. car, to take the train. Experimented all summer in Germany, a monthly ticket at 9 euros allowing travel on the entire German network (excluding high-speed trains) has met with great success, with approximately 52 million tickets sold. With AFP