In October, nothing works in several federal states on the railways. Unknown persons have severed important cables. Now the railway is reacting – with the deployment of more security forces.
The railway is drawing consequences from the cable attack on nationwide train radio in October, which led to large-scale train cancellations in northern Germany. “In coordination with the federal police, we are deploying additional security forces to better protect the infrastructure against interference,” said a spokeswoman for Deutsche Bahn on Sunday. “Additional mobile presence and prevention patrols from DB Security will be deployed.”
The authorities are assuming the attack was a “politically motivated act”, but have no clues as to the perpetrators and are continuing to investigate in all directions. Because of the cable sabotage in October, Deutsche Bahn had to completely stop all long-distance traffic in Lower Saxony, Bremen, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein as well as large parts of regional traffic for around three hours.
According to Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing, “cables were willfully and deliberately severed” at two locations in Germany. According to the FDP politician, the lines were “essential” for the safe operation of regional and long-distance traffic as well as freight traffic. The investigators came to the conclusion that the crimes committed in Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia required very detailed knowledge of the railway’s radio system. Fiber optic cables had been damaged, causing the backup system to fail. According to estimates from security circles, it is assumed that the perpetrators had insider knowledge about the railway. Because of the presumed coordination of the deeds, a certain “degree of organization of the attackers” is also considered likely.
At one of the locations, in Berlin, the state security of the State Criminal Police Office took over the investigation. According to experts, political extremism and international conflicts are increasingly posing a threat to German infrastructure.