On Saturday, September 26, major disruptions to train services occurred in Germany in the area of the city of Gelsenkirchen due to railway cables being cut and stolen. About 300 regional and intercity trains were affected by the incident. This was reported by dpa, writes UNN.
Details
At around 4:15 a.m., several malfunctions in the signaling systems were recorded near Gelsenkirchen. According to Deutsche Bahn, unknown individuals cut several cables, some of which were subsequently stolen.
The damage disrupted, among other services, intercity connections from Dortmund to Munich, from Hamburg to Basel, and from northern Germany to Cologne. Trains were forced to take diversionary routes or skip certain stops.
Repair work was completed around noon. After that, the first trains began running through the Gelsenkirchen area, but Deutsche Bahn warned that delays and other disruptions could continue throughout the second half of the day.
State and federal police inspected the scene and collected evidence. Law enforcement officials believe that the incident was caused by cable theft rather than deliberate sabotage.