The train in the north of the country stood still for three hours. A little later it is clear: the disruption is the result of an act of sabotage. It seems like professionals were at work there. The incident raises more questions.
It was bad news for train passengers – and news that caused great concern about the critical infrastructure in Germany: On Saturday, rail traffic in the north of the country suddenly came to a standstill. The culprit, it becomes clear on the same day, is not a technical defect or a violent storm. The reason is sabotage.
The railway was the victim of a targeted attack, which was first made public by the company itself and a little later by Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing. “Cables that are essential for train traffic were willfully and deliberately severed,” said the FDP politician. Nothing worked without her. Two central questions arise: Who was that? And how vulnerable is the critical infrastructure in this country? According to a definition by the federal government, this includes all “organizations or facilities of major importance to the state community, the failure or impairment of which would result in lasting supply bottlenecks, significant disruptions to public safety or other dramatic consequences” – in addition to energy suppliers and the health care system Rail.
When it comes to protecting these systems, there are “significant problems” that have been pointed out for a long time, says Green Party politician Konstantin von Notz, chairman of the parliamentary control committee for the secret services in the Bundestag. “Part of that is because responsibilities are unclear.”
Green leader Omid Nouripour is also calling for improvements. “The incident clearly shows that we have to do three things,” said Nouripour in Berlin. Firstly, significant investments must be made in protecting critical infrastructure, which includes, among other things, energy supply, telecommunications or transport. “Secondly, we must better equip civil defense and disaster control in order to be well prepared for dangers. Thirdly, the police and intelligence services must pay more attention to the protection of particularly endangered systems.”
With a view to the general geopolitical situation since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, Bundeswehr General Carsten Breuer also warns of increasing attacks on the infrastructure in Germany. “Every substation, every power plant, every pipeline can be attacked, can be a possible target,” the commander of the Bundeswehr’s Territorial Command told the “Bild am Sonntag”. “Here in command, we are primarily prepared for hybrid threats.”
According to the authorities, it is still unclear who is behind the sabotage on the train. “We have a crime scene in Berlin-Hohenschönhausen,” said a spokesman for the Federal Police Headquarters in Berlin on Saturday. “Another is in North Rhine-Westphalia.” From security circles it was said that so-called fiber optic cables were deliberately damaged at the Karower Kreuz in Berlin and in Herne in North Rhine-Westphalia. The backup system also failed. In the meantime, the state security of the State Criminal Police Office in Berlin has taken over the investigation.
Security expert Peter Neumann considers a Russian attack on the critical infrastructure in Germany to be conceivable. He believes that the plausibility for this is “quite high”: “Russia has an interest in causing panic in Europe and signaling that it can paralyze life very violently,” said the expert on terrorism and geopolitics RTL. It takes considerable knowledge to attack these nodes. “It probably wasn’t amateurs or individuals, it was something done by professionals.” However, the expert points out: “But of course there is no clear evidence. That’s why you have to be careful. At the moment it’s still a theory.”
Speaking of Russia: less than two weeks ago, a total of four underwater leaks were found on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea. Large amounts of gas escaped, the EU and NATO assume sabotage, the Kremlin explained that it suspects a state actor behind it.
“The problem has worsened with Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, which violates international law,” says von Notz, referring to the critical infrastructure. Although he also points out that the background to the train sabotage is still completely unclear. A spokeswoman for Deutsche Bahn told Die Zeit just a few days ago that “it is not possible to permanently protect the rail network across the board”. There have always been attacks on railway tracks and cables – in a different dimension – in the past. The left-wing extremist scene often came under suspicion.
