Hours of paralysis and unanswered questions. Thousands of travelers were stranded in German train stations on Saturday morning following a massive outage that brought train traffic to a complete halt in northern Germany for three hours. As soon as train traffic has been partially restored, thehe German company Deutsche Bahn claimed that a “sabotage” of the rail network was the cause of the failure.
In this context, several German officials called on Sunday, October 9, to strengthen the security of national infrastructures. Some even mention the Russian track, in the context of the war in Ukraine and the recent leaks on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines, about which the Swedish authorities also speak of sabotage. Here is what we know about this serious incident that occurred across the Rhine.
Two cables severed 540 km apart
The possible sabotage paralyzed traffic throughout the northern half of the country. In particular, it 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 Rhineland. -North-Westphalia. The Berlin-Amsterdam connection has also been suspended.
This giant failure is the consequence of the cutting of strategic communication cables for trains. These cables were cut simultaneously in two different places in the network, in Berlin and in North Rhine-Westphalia, in the west of the country, according to Picture (paid article, in German). Two locations located 540 km from each other.
More specifically, it would be “fiber optic cables”according Pictureand the GSM-R radio network of the trains used for communication with the drivers but also, more generally, of“central interface between trains and infrastructure” of control, according to the investigative magazine Der Spiegel (in German)the first media that mentioned these suspicions of sabotage.
A “targeted action”, requiring “certain knowledge”
The hypothesis of sabotage is reinforced by the fact that the potential saboteurs targeted “cables essential for the movement of trains”, on all high-speed and regional connections, as well as freight transport, said Deutsche Bahn. Such an action would not be within the reach of the first comer and would require “some knowledge” of the railway system, sources close to the German company also point out to Picture.
Suspicions confirmed by the German Transport Minister, Volker Wissing, who told the press that these cables “have been willfully and intentionally severed”. “It is clear that this is a targeted and deliberate action”, “a premeditated act”, he added on Saturday, specifying that the motive was not “still known”.
The “conceivable” state track
So far, German police have not publicly mentioned any particular leads. But according to Picturewho says he has obtained a first analysis document from the German judicial police, the latter considers “that a sabotage of state origin could be at least possible”. According to Spiegelit is the section of the Berlin police responsible for investigating acts threatening the state, such as attacks or cases of espionage, which took over the investigations.
“We cannot exclude that Russia is also behind the attack on the railway company”, said Anton Hofreiter, a leader of the German Green Party, a member of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government coalition. He called for the release of 20 billion euros to better protect critical infrastructure, strengthen the police and computer security.
An aging rail network, exposed to “hybrid threats”
The Deutsche Bahn company is regularly singled out for the many delays on its lines. It had announced, at the beginning of September, to have to carry out titanic works, with in particular the replacement of 137,000 concrete sleepers, to upgrade its tracks.
The German government and Deutsche Bahn presented an emergency plan on June 22 to renovate the national network, on the verge of collapse. The boss of the German railways, Richard Lutz, had then admitted that “the current quality and reliability of the network (was) unacceptable”. But he had also hinted that the work would take time.
After this possible sabotage, the German general Carsten Breuer warned in Picture : “Every electrical transformer, every power station, every power pipe is a potential target.” The infrastructures are exposed to “hybrid threats” increasing, underlined this senior officer.
For its part, the conservative opposition judged that“irrespective of this case, we must rethink the security architecture of Germany and the European Union”. “The modern era marked by the conduct of Hybrid Wars requires that we adapt our concepts”Thorsten Frei, one of the leaders of the party of ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel, told the RND press group.