From Berlin to Frankfurt and everywhere in between, railway passengers across Germany were stuck on trains and in stations on Tuesday night due to an unprecedented communication failure.
Deutsche Bahn (DB) passengers are used to delayed trains, and navigating the occasional replacement bus. But nationwide paralysis of the entire railway network – that’s something new.
Travellers across Germany faced several hours of disruption on Tuesday night, with train traffic resuming early on Wednesday morning.
According to media reports long queues formed at information and help desks in train stations from around 11pm until after midnight. DB had said it would issue taxi and hotel vouchers where necessary.
The first trains to run again started around half past midnight. Tagesschau reported that nationwide services were running again before 3am.
“All trains are now running again,” CEO Evelyn Palla had announced, adding that an “emergency system” had allowed DB to “stabilise the situation”.
The issue reportedly had to do with the failure of a digital railway radio, which provides for communication between train drivers and dispatchers. With communication effectively knocked out, traffic could not continue for safety reasons.
Long-distance, regional and local traffic
Deutsche Bahn operates long-distance passenger traffic in Germany on its ICE, IC and EC trains, and also operates regional and local services, including S-Bahn services.
At half-past midnight, Berlin’s S-Bahn gave the all clear, after more than two hours of suspended services which affected passengers traveling around the city as well as traffic to and from Berlin Airport.
More than two dozen flights landed at the airport after 10pm, during the disruption. A report by Tagesspiegel detailed the scene around 11pm as 200 passengers with luggage waited to be squeezed into replacement buses.
“Typical Germany,” a couple from Dresden was quoted as saying. Other passengers complained that there was a lack of guidance of information.
Meanwhile similar scenes played out a train stations across the German capital, and at other cities across all of Germany.
At Berlin’s central station long-distance passengers queued up at the information desk. In DB’s navigator app journeys seemed to be perpetually delayed for an hour, while loudspeaker announcements chimed in to say DB was “working on a solution”.
Staff let passengers onto stalled trains to use the restrooms.
In Frankfurt the German Press Agency (DPA) reported that DB had issued taxi and hotel vouchers, but that some passengers found that it was already too late to book a free room for the night.
An ICE to Mannheim and Stuttgart left Frankfurt with almost no passengers, because those who were still waiting had not been informed that the train was about to depart.
Traffic resumes
As of Wednesday morning, railway traffic across Germany had returned almost entirely to normal, but DB cautioned that there may be follow-up delays or cancellations due to the disruption.
In Cologne, there were some 15 minute delays, and in Dortmund some ICE trains were still running several hours late, according to a report by Suddeutsche Zeitung.
North Rhine-Westphalia’s Transport Minister Oliver Krischer criticised Deutsche Bahn, saying: “The fact that a technical defect has brought all rail traffic in Germany to a standstill is a new low…”
He added that he expects DB to clarify what happened, and to adopt new emergency mechanisms going forward.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: thelocal.de
