A planned component replacement on Germany's railway network triggered a communications outage late Tuesday, halting all train services and stranding passengers across the country, according to the network operator Deutsche Bahn.
The federal government-owned company apologized for the disruption, which began Tuesday night and saw services gradually resume after midnight. Passengers faced long lines for information and struggled to find accommodations, with the operator offering taxi and hotel vouchers.
The outage affected the GSM-R digital communication system, used for internal railway operations. Philipp Nagl, head of the DB InfraGO infrastructure division, stated that the cause appeared to be the "scheduled swap of a technical component." He added that the company is urgently analyzing how the incident occurred.
Deutsche Bahn is currently undertaking significant overhauls of its infrastructure after years of underinvestment, aiming to improve performance. This process, however, is expected to lead to further disruptions in the short term.
Germany operates Europe's largest railway network, spanning approximately 33,400 kilometers with 5,400 stations and handling around 50,000 trains daily.
Regional transport officials criticized the incident, with Oliver Krischer, the transport minister for North Rhine-Westphalia, calling the nationwide halt due to a technical defect "a new low in already poor operating quality." He emphasized the need for emergency mechanisms to prevent future disruptions, stating that "People rely on reaching their destination at least somewhat punctually by rail."
By Wednesday morning, Deutsche Bahn reported that trains were running "largely seamlessly," though some delays may persist.