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Officials said Saturday that a forced shutdown of all train traffic across northern Germany was a “deliberate act,” blaming sabotage.
German Minister for Transport Volker Wissing said Saturday that a forced shutdown of all train traffic across northern Germany was caused by a “deliberate act” of sabotage. Photo courtesy of Germany Ministry of Transport Officials said Saturday that a forced shutdown of all train traffic across northern Germany was a “deliberate act,” blaming sabotage. Photo by Gary Lee Todd/Wikimedia Commons Officials said Saturday that a forced shutdown of all train traffic across northern Germany was a “deliberate act,” blaming sabotage. Photo by Andrew Bone/Wikimedia Commons
Oct. 8 (UPI) — Officials said Saturday that a forced shutdown of all train traffic across northern Germany was triggered by a “deliberate act,” blaming sabotage.
Germany’s Minister for Transport Volker Wissing called the outage an “attack” in a Tweet Saturday morning.
Vital communication cables in the country’s train system were “consciously and deliberately cut” Wissing told reporters at a news conference later in the day.
Wissing did not speculate on who or what may be behind the sabotage.
The “massive” problems brought trains to a complete halt in parts of northern Germany as well as the capital Berlin, stranding passengers ahead of the weekend. The issues were fixed after a few hours, operator Deutsche Bahn said.
The company calls itself the largest railway operator and infrastructure owner in Europe
Long-distance as well as regional rail lines were affected. There were no long-distance trains running between Berlin and Hanover and the western part of the country.
“Sabotage to cables which were vital for train traffic meant Deutsche Bahn had to stop trains running in the north this morning for nearly three hours,” the operator said Saturday.
The sabotage claims come just days after officials from Sweden said they had evidence confirming a leak in the Nord Stream pipeline was caused intentionally.
The Swedish government said Thursday that “certain seizures” have been made in its criminal investigation into seafloor detonations along the Nord Stream pipeline system in the Baltic Sea.
Russian energy company Gazprom holds the majority stake in Nord Stream AG, the company operating both strings of the Nord Stream pipeline network. Underground detonations recently caused huge plumes of the potent greenhouse gas methane to bubble to the sea’s surface, ostensibly from ruptures along the pipeline network.
