After the act of sabotage against Deutsche Bahn, the perpetrators are being investigated at full speed. Train traffic in northern Germany was suspended for hours. Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe station was also affected.
A rail disruption paralyzed long-distance traffic in large parts of northern Germany for hours on Saturday morning. As announced by Deutsche Bahn and Federal Minister of Transport Volker Wissing (FDP), the reason for this was sabotage Cable. “Cables that are essential for train traffic were cut intentionally and deliberately,” said Wissing on Saturday. The train had become the target of an attack. The background and motive for the crime are still unclear.
The attacks are said to have been carried out at two crime scenes in Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia. In the search for the perpetrators, investigations are being carried out in all directions, the federal police said. In the evening, the investigations were then handed over to the State Criminal Police Office in Berlin, as spokesman for the federal police and the Berlin situation center confirmed early Sunday morning.
In addition to long-distance traffic, regional traffic was also affected. According to the railways, the disruption was resolved during the course of Saturday morning, but there were further impairments. Passengers had to continue to expect cancellations and delays.
Hundreds stranded at Wilhelmshöhe station
The effects of the major disruption were also clearly felt in Hesse: all long-distance trains between Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe station and Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony were cancelled. At noon, a few hundred travelers were waiting at Wilhelmshöhe station to continue their journey north. Many of them told hr that they only found out about the failures on the train.
Visitors were also affected Connichi, a big anime and manga fair taking place in Kassel this weekend. Many of them reported that they had to put up with hour-long detours on branch lines with regional trains when they arrived.
Critical infrastructure vulnerable
As a consequence of the sabotage action, the Frankfurt member of parliament and leader of the Greens, Omid Nouripour, called for improvements in the protection of the critical infrastructure. The attack on the railway cable connections “triggered chaos at the stations, delays in the supply chains and massive uncertainty among the population,” Nouripour said on Saturday. The critical infrastructures and thus all of us are vulnerable.
It is therefore necessary to invest heavily in the protection of critical infrastructure, including energy supply, telecommunications and transport. “Nancy Faeser and her interior ministry have to present a draft law as soon as possible,” Nouripour demanded of the SPD politician.
End of further information