Deutsche Bahn Resumes Services After Nationwide Tech Outage Halts Trains

If you're affected by the outage, follow the guidelines at the Deutsche Bahn website here.

German rail company Deutsche Bahn resumed train services after a tech outage halted all trains nationwide for a little more than two hours late at night on Tuesday.

Deutsche Bahn said in a statement after midnight on Wednesday that the issue that led to the disruption nationwide had been fixed for now and that trains were gradually resuming services to their destinations.

Regional and suburban rail operators run by Deutsche Bahn also said on X that services were gradually restarting, but warned that major delays and cancellations were likely to persist into Wednesday morning.

"We were able to stabilize the situation with an emergency system. We now need to determine the cause," Deutsche Bahn CEO Evelyn Palla told German Bild newspaper.

All trains suspended at German rail network: What to know

The technical meltdown was due to a fault in the so-called Global System ⁠for ​Mobile ​Communication for Railways (GSM-R) communication system that is used for international communication on the railway network.

Trains were held at stations and passengers were stranded nationwide during the duration of the outage, which lasted nearly 2 1/2 hours since it was first reported.

Deutsche Bahn apologized to passengers for the situation and issued taxi and hotel vouchers to people affected.

Deutsche Bahn CEO Evelyn Palla spoke to Bild newspaper soon after the issue came to light and said they "trying to get the trains into stations so that travelers can disembark. And then we have to fix the problem, which we don't yet know."

Deutsche Bahn said technicians were working to resolve issue

The German railway company said in an update after halting services that the disruption that led to the internal communications outage had been identified, and that technicians were working to resolve the issue.

But every report before the issue was resolved was about trains having been suspended in cities and states.

All trains were suspended in Germany's most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia.

Berlin's public transport authorities said that municipal, regional and long-distance trains run by Deutsche Bahn were impacted by the outage.

Deutsche Bahn has a reputation for being unreliable, and anyone who uses trains in their daily lives has become used to long delays.

The company is notorious for frequent late trains and cancellations.

S-Bahn services in Berlin, Hamburg, Stuttgart impacted by outage

The S-Bahn suburban railway link operated by Deutsche Bahn was also affected in cities like Berlin and Stuttgart.

Authorities at the Berlin S-Bahn at the time said all trains across all lines were suspended due to a communication failure.

Authorities in Stuttgart said so too, writing: "At present, all S-Bahn trains across the entire network are being held at platforms."

"Please check your journey in the travel information system for alternative transport options. We will inform you as soon as we have new information and can assess how long the disruption will last."

Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko