October 2022 German railway attack

Last updated

An attack on the German railway communication system led to a disruption of the complete railway traffic in Northern Germany on 8 October 2022.

Contents

Event

In the early morning of 8 October 2022, two fibre optic cables which are necessary for the GSM-R communication system of Deutsche Bahn were deliberately damaged. One crime scene was in the north-east of Berlin, the other 550 km (340 mi) away in Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia. The cut of the cables halted all rail traffic in northern Germany for around three hours. Services were affected between Berlin and regions in the west and north of the country including Schleswig-Holstein, the cities of Hamburg and Bremen, as well as Lower Saxony and parts of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The Berlin–Amsterdam route was also suspended, and thousands of travellers were stranded at stations across the affected regions. [1] [2] The Landespolizei of Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia took over the crime investigation. [3] On 13 October, the German general public persecutor and the German federal Criminal Police Office took over the investigations. [4]

Cause

The severing of cables was highly "professional", it was "a targeted and professional attack on the railroads", Andreas Rosskopf, the chairman of the main police union, told to German media. [5] The German Transport Minister Volker Wissing also said that essential cables "were deliberately and intentionally severed". [2]

Impact

The attack raised concerns about the vulnerability of German infrastructure, especially taken into account the recent explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipelines and the German support for Ukraine in the Russian-Ukrainian War. The German main police union sees further sabotage at Deutsche Bahn as a possibility and called for surveillance systems to be strengthened. Green politician Anton Hofreiter told FUNKE media group that the sabotage reminded him of the disruption of the Nord Stream pipelines where the "trail leads to the Kremlin". "Maybe both were warning shots because we support Ukraine", Hofreiter added. [5] Meanwhile, German police stated that there was no sign of any involvement by a foreign state or terrorism, but did not exclude political motives in general. [3]

Related Research Articles

Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization, destabilization, division, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a saboteur. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identities because of the consequences of their actions and to avoid invoking legal and organizational requirements for addressing sabotage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Rhine-Westphalia</span> State in Germany

North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a state (Bundesland) in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the most populous state in Germany. Apart from the city-states, it is also the most densely populated state in Germany. Covering an area of 34,084 km2 (13,160 sq mi), it is the fourth-largest German state by size.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duisburg</span> City in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Duisburg is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the 15th-largest city in Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deutsche Bahn</span> State-owned national railway company of Germany

Deutsche Bahn AG is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company (AG) and the largest railway company in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region</span> Urban area in Germany

The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region is the largest metropolitan region in Germany, with over ten million inhabitants. A polycentric conurbation with several major urban concentrations, the region covers an area of 7,110 square kilometres (2,750 sq mi), entirely within the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region spreads from the Ruhr area (Dortmund-Bochum-Essen-Duisburg) in the north to the urban areas of the cities of Mönchengladbach, Düsseldorf, Wuppertal, Leverkusen, Cologne, and Bonn in the south. The location of the Rhine-Ruhr at the heart of the European Blue Banana makes it well connected to other major European cities and metropolitan areas such as the Randstad, the Flemish Diamond and the Frankfurt Rhine Main Region.

DB Regio AG is a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn which operates regional and commuter train services in Germany. It is a 100% subsidiary of the Deutsche Bahn Group and therefore part of the DB Regio business segment, which also includes DB Regionnetz Verkehrs GmbH and other independent subsidiaries headquartered in Frankfurt am Main.

Nord Stream is a pair of offshore natural gas pipelines in Europe that run under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany. It consists of the Nord Stream 1 (NS1) pipeline running from Vyborg in northwestern Russia, near Finland, and the Nord Stream 2 (NS2) pipeline running from Ust-Luga in northwestern Russia near Estonia. Both pipelines run to Lubmin in the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Each pipeline contains two pipes, denoted A and B; each of the four pipes is approximately 1,200 kilometres (750 mi) long and with approximate diameters of 1,220 millimetres (48 in). The combined capacity of the four pipes is 110 billion cubic metres per annum of natural gas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petershagen-Eggersdorf</span> Municipality in Brandenburg, Germany

Petershagen-Eggersdorf is a municipality in the district Märkisch-Oderland, in Brandenburg, Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cologne/Bonn Airport station</span> Station at Cologne Bonn Airport

Cologne/Bonn Airport station is a station at Cologne Bonn Airport in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It was built as part of the Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed rail line and opened in June 2004 on the approximately 15-kilometre-long (9.3 mi) Cologne Airport loop line. It is served by Intercity-Express (ICE), Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn and regional services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Šventoji, Lithuania</span> Place in Samogitia, Lithuania

Šventoji is a resort town on the coast of the Baltic Sea in Lithuania. Administratively it is part of Palanga City Municipality. The total population of Šventoji as of 2012 was 2631. The town is located about 12 km north of Palanga center and close to the border with Latvia. Further north of the town is Būtingė and its oil terminal. Šventoji River flows into the Baltic sea at the town. The town also has a famous lighthouse, which is located 780 meters from the sea. Its height is 39 meters. The town is a popular summer resort for families, during summer it has many cafes, restaurants and various attractions for the visitors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bochum Stadtbahn</span> Light rail line in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

The Bochum Stadtbahn is a light rail line in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, linking the cities of Bochum and Herne. It is operated by BOGESTRA, and is integrated into the Rhine-Ruhr Stadtbahn network. It consists of a single Stadtbahn line, which includes a tunnel section between the city centers of Bochum and Herne.

The Mülheim-Heißen–Oberhausen-Osterfeld Nord railway is a line that formerly ran continuously in the western Ruhr region from Heißen to Osterfeld in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Osterath–Dortmund Süd railway</span> Railway line in Germany

The Osterath–Dortmund-Süd railway is a historically significant line in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Parts of it are closed, much of it is now used for freight only, but several sections are still used for Regional-Express, Regionalbahn or Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn services.

Eurobahn is a railway operator in Germany, established in 1998. It operates regional train services in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with cross-border services including Lower Saxony and the Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cologne freight bypass railway</span> Railway in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

The Cologne freight bypass railway is a main line railway in southern Cologne in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is fully duplicated and electrified.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herford–Himmighausen railway</span> Railway line in Germany

The Herford–Himmighausen railway is a 48 km-long line from Herford via Detmold to Himmighausen and is a single-track and electrified main line. It is located in Ostwestfalen-Lippe in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and is part of Deutsche Bahn’s Münster-Ostwestfalen regional network (MOW), which has its headquarters in Münster. In Herford this route is known as the Lippische Bahn. The line from Herford to Detmold was built by the Cologne-Minden Railway Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katja Dörner</span> German politician, Lord mayor of Bonn

Katja Dörner is a German politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens who has been serving as mayor of Bonn since 2020. From 2009 until 2020, she was a member of the Bundestag.

Bernd Reuther is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia since 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nord Stream pipelines sabotage</span> Gas pipe explosions in the Nord Stream pipelines

On 26 September 2022, a series of underwater explosions and consequent gas leaks occurred on 3 of 4 Nord Stream pipes, rendering them inoperable. The Nord Stream 1 (NS1) and Nord Stream 2 (NS2) are natural gas pipelines. They are two of 23 gas pipelines between Europe and Russia. The leaks were located in international waters, but within the economic zones of Denmark and Sweden. Both pipelines were built to transport natural gas from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea, and are majority owned by the Russian majority state-owned gas company, Gazprom.

On 17–18 November 2024, two submarine telecommunication cables, the BCS East-West Interlink and C-Lion1 fibre-optic cables were disrupted in the Baltic Sea. The incidents involving both cables occurred in close proximity of each other and near-simultaneously which prompted accusations from European government officials and NATO member states of hybrid warfare and sabotage as the cause of the damage. Currently, the damage to those undersea cables has not been conclusively attributed to any specific party. Investigations are ongoing and since 19 November, the Chinese cargo ship Yi Peng 3 is under scrutiny due to its presence near the cables at the time of the incidents. Western intelligence officials believe the ship's anchor may have caused the damage, either accidentally or under the influence of Russian intelligence.

References

  1. ↑ German police open probe into sabotage of rail system Archived 10 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine , Financial Times, Guy Chazan, October 2022.
  2. 1 2 Rail traffic in northern Germany disrupted by 'sabotage' Archived 10 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine , France 24, 8 October 2022.
  3. 1 2 No sign that foreign state was behind German rail sabotage, police say Archived 10 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine , Reuters, 9 October 2022.
  4. ↑ Federal prosecutors take over German rail sabotage probe Archived 10 August 2023 at the Wayback Machine , Washington Post, 13 October 2022.
  5. 1 2 Attack on German Rail Network ‘Targeted, Professional,’ Police Say Archived 10 August 2023 at the Wayback Machine , Josefine Fokuhl, Bloomberg, 9 October 2022.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.