GSM-R radio system failure halts German rail traffic
A massive failure in the digital GSM-R radio communication system disrupted railway services across Germany on Tuesday evening, causing widespread delays and cancellations.
A large-scale failure in the digital GSM-R radio communication system caused disruption to railway services across Germany on the evening of Tuesday, June 23, according to the dpa news agency and representatives of Deutsche Bahn.
Due to the failure, many trains were unable to continue running, leading to massive delays and cancellations. Deutsche Bahn said the outage affected the company's internal communication channels. The company specifically noted that Bavaria was hit hardest, where rail traffic was severely restricted or completely impossible.
By 00:30 German time, the first trains resumed movement, but the full extent of the problem remained unclear. The failure affected both long-distance and regional services. As dpa notes, the GSM-R system is a key element ensuring railway operations in Germany; it facilitates information exchange between train drivers, dispatchers, and traffic control centers. In the event of such a system failure, train movements can be operated only in a limited mode for safety reasons.
A Deutsche Bahn spokesperson later told dpa that the cause of the failure had been identified but declined to disclose it. The last time the digital railway radio system failed was in October 2022 in northern Germany, for three hours, when Deutsche Bahn also had to halt train services in the region, according to Der Spiegel magazine. The investigation at that time found that the cause was damage to cable equipment by perpetrators.
