An attack on the German railway communication system led to a disruption of the complete railway traffic in Northern Germany on 8 October 2022.

Event

In the early morning of 8 October 2022, two fibre optic cables which are necessary for the

GSM-R GSM-R, Global System for Mobile Communications – Railway or GSM-Railway is an international wireless communications standard for railway communication and applications. A sub-system of European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS), it is use ...

communication system of

Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the se ...

were deliberately damaged. One crime scene was in the north-east of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, the other away in

Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia Herne () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the Ruhr area directly between the cities of Bochum and Gelsenkirchen. History Like most other cities in the region, Herne (ancient Haranni) was a tiny village until the ...

. The cut of the cables halted all rail traffic in northern Germany for around three hours. Services were affected between Berlin and regions in the west and north of the country including

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...

, the cities of

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

and

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

, as well as

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

and parts of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

. The Berlin–

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

route was also suspended, and thousands of travellers were stranded at stations across the affected regions.''Rail traffic in northern Germany disrupted by 'sabotage' ''
France 24, 8 October 2022. The

Landespolizei ''Landespolizei'' (; ) is a term used to refer to the state police of any of the states of Germany. History The ''Landespolizei'' of today can trace its origins to the late 19th century, when Germany united into a single country in 18 ...

of Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia took over the crime investigation.''No sign that foreign state was behind German rail sabotage, police say''
Reuters, 9 October 2022. On 13 October, the German general public persecutor and the German federal Criminal Police Office took over the investigations.''Federal prosecutors take over German rail sabotage probe''
''Washington Post'', 13 October 2022.

Cause

The severing of cables was highly "professional", it was "a targeted and professional attack on the railroads", Andreas Rosskopf, the chairman of the main police union, told to German media.''Attack on German Rail Network ‘Targeted, Professional,’ Police Say''
Josefine Fokuhl, Bloomberg, 9 October 2022. The German Transport Minister

Volker Wissing Volker Wissing (born 22 April 1970) is a German lawyer, former judge and politician of the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has been serving as the party's General Secretary since 2020, and as Minister for Transport in the federal govern ...

also said that essential cables "were deliberately and intentionally severed".

Impact

The attack raised concerns about the vulnerability of German infrastructure, especially taken into account the recent explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipelines and the German support for Ukraine in the

Russian-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War; uk, російсько-українська війна, rosiisko-ukrainska viina. has been ongoing between Russia (alongside Russian separatists in Ukraine) and Ukraine since February 2014. Following Ukraine's Revo ...

. The German main police union sees further sabotage at Deutsche Bahn as a possibility and called for surveillance systems to be strengthened.

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

politician

Anton Hofreiter Anton "Toni" Hofreiter (born 2 February 1970) is a German politician who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag since the 2005 elections. Political career As a member of Alliance 90/The Greens, Hofreiter has been a member of the Bundes ...

told FUNKE media group that the sabotage reminded him of the disruption of the Nord Stream pipelines where the "trail leads to the Kremlin". "Maybe both were warning shots because we support Ukraine", Hofreiter added. Meanwhile, German police stated that there was no sign of any involvement by a foreign state or terrorism, but did not exclude political motives in general.

References

{{coord missing, Germany Unsolved crimes in Europe October 2022 events in Germany Railway accidents and incidents in Germany