The trains are at a standstill at Germany’s train stations, the passengers are stuck: rail traffic has been suspended nationwide due to a failure of the GSM-R digital rail radio.
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A locomotive driver said this in an online posting. Accordingly, switching to a backup system should take around half an hour. Nevertheless, trains and passengers are likely to be delayed for much longer because rail traffic must be restarted gradually.
(UPDATE 6/24/2026 1:20 am)
According to a statement from Deutsche Bahn, the cause of the disruption was found around midnight. About three quarters of an hour later, the disruption to the train radio was resolved and traffic has now started again.
Problems with GSM-R have repeatedly caused major disruptions in rail traffic in Germany. In any case, Deutsche Bahn and its competitors Metronom and Erixx are affected this night, but also everyone else who uses Deutsche Bahn’s infrastructure. For safety reasons, the trains will be stopped, if possible at the nearest station.
A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed the GSM-R failure in the evening at the request of the dpa news agency. “Our technicians are working hard to fix the problem,” he said. Further information would be available as soon as possible.
(NO)
