Rail service in Germany was suspended for two hours due to a technical glitch in DB's systems — Spiegel
A major technical failure in the digital rail control system completely paralyzed train traffic throughout Germany late in the evening on June 23.
The rail collapse lasted about two hours and led to massive service cancellations, with disruptions to the schedule extending even into the morning rush hour the following day.
The national operator, Deutsche Bahn (DB), announced that the incident was caused by a technical error within the nationwide GSM-R digital radio communication system.
Rail service began to gradually resume only after 1:00 a.m., but passengers in various regions of the country faced chaos.
Passengers who were caught in the middle of the problem while traveling or at stations before departure complained en masse about the complete lack of clear information.
Witnesses to the incident told reporters that the Frankfurt–Mannheim train departed nearly empty after a long delay because no one on the platform had clearly announced the start of boarding.
German law enforcement and security experts have so far completely ruled out the possibility of deliberate external interference or sabotage.
According to preliminary findings from the investigation, the catastrophic technical failure was the result of a failed and improper software update to the internal communication networks.
In response to this incident, private railway companies and leading German politicians have already issued official demands for a transparent investigation.
The incident has sparked a wave of harsh criticism directed at the management of the state-owned railway operator Deutsche Bahn due to systemic infrastructure problems.
Oliver Krischer, Minister of Transportation for the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, expressed deep outrage at the vulnerability of the country’s transportation system.
He officially called the fact that a single technical failure brought the entire rail network to a halt a “new low” in DB’s problems.
This was reported by Spiegel.
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