Germany’s Train Network Briefly Stopped Amid IT Disruption

Wed Jun 24 2026 09:59:16 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

A nationwide IT glitch halted Deutsche Bahn services, stopping trains overnight and causing major delays, but was fixed after 2½ hours.

On June 23, Germany’s national rail operator, Deutsche Bahn, experienced a failure of the GSM‑R communication system that forced trains to halt across the country. Passengers were stranded for more than two and a half hours before services resumed as IT teams resolved the glitch. Deutsche Bahn apologized, offered compensation, and urged passengers to seek alternate transport, while long‑distance and S‑bahn services were temporarily disrupted.

Germany’s national rail operator, Deutsche Bahn, had to pause all train services across the country overnight after an unexpected IT malfunction.

At 22:30 local time, Deutsche Bahn announced that a nationwide disruption of the Global System for Mobile Communication for Railways (GSM‑R) caused every train to be held at stations, creating a standstill that held passengers for more than 2½ hours.

The glitch, caused by a malfunction in the country’s digital railway radio network, prevented drivers and traffic control from communicating, and forced the operator to stop operations until technicians could resolve the problem. In the wake of the failure, travelers were urged to find alternative transport as major delays and cancellations were expected.

Deutsche Bahn later confirmed the issue had been fixed and trains were gradually resuming service. The company said it would apologise to passengers and enable replacement transport wherever possible, offering taxi and hotel vouchers to those who were impacted.

The disruption affected both long‑distance and regional networks as well as the S‑bahn trains that link suburban areas with city centres. A separate statement from S‑bahn Berlin said the outage had been resolved and that S‑bahn trains could run again, although delays and cancellations could still occur.

In a comment to the German newspaper Bild, CEO Evelyn Palla said Deutsche Bahn were “trying to get the trains into stations so that travellers can disembark” and that the company was working to restore normal service as quickly as possible.