Rail transportation was interrupted throughout northern Germany, in the morning of Saturday October 8.
Le Monde with AFP
Three hours of total paralysis. An act of “sabotage” targeting radio connection cables caused a massive failure which completely cut, in the morning of Saturday October 8, rail traffic in northern Germany, said the company Deutsche Bahn.
All high -speed and regional connections in the north of the country have been interrupted. This sabotage targeted “cables essential to the circulation of trains”, said the German company, after the partial recovery of traffic.
It would more precisely be the GSM-R radio network of trains, used for communication with drivers, but also of “central interface between trains and the infrastructure” of control, The daily Bild , the sabotage would have taken place in Berlin and in Rhinenania-du-Nord-Westphalie, the most populous region of Germany, in the ‘West of the country.
Thousands of travelers blocked in stations
An action targeting this type of cable would not be within the reach of the firstcomer and would require “certain knowledge” of the rail system, underline sources close to Deutsche Bahn with Bild, adding that the federal police are responsible for ‘survey.
The incident notably led to an interruption of the links between Berlin and certain regions of the west and northern of the country, such as Schleswig-Holstein, the cities of Hamburg and Bremen, or Basse-Saxe and a part From Rhineland-of-Nord-Westphalia. The Berlin-Amsterdam link has also been suspended.
Thousands of travelers were blocked in stations on Saturday morning. Cancellations and delays were still expected during the day, despite the restoration of the links, warned the German railway company.
An aging rail network
The company Deutsche Bahn is regularly pinned for the many delays on its lines. It had thus announced, in early September, having to carry out titanic work, with the replacement of 137,000 concrete crosspieces, 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 made more than 40 injured, tragically illustrated the poor state of the German lines, linked to years of underinvestment . These shortcomings fall all the more bad as the government has encouraged the Germans in recent months, great followers of the car, to take the train.
Experienced all summer in Germany, a monthly ticket at 9 euros allowing you to travel on the entire German network, excluding high -speed trains, met with great success, with around 52 million tickets sold.