Cable theft paralyzes rail traffic in the Ruhr area

After massive disruptions in local and long-distance traffic in the Ruhr area as a result of cables being cut near Gelsenkirchen, the police assume that cable theft was the reason behind the crime. But investigations are underway in all directions, said a police spokesman. “We have no concrete evidence that this was an act of sabotage.” Cables were cut and stolen. This led to the failure of electronics.

According to previous information from the railway, there were several signal disruptions near Gelsenkirchen on Saturday morning after unknown people cut various cables, a railway spokeswoman said. As a result, all train traffic around Gelsenkirchen came to a standstill. After the repair work was completed on Saturday afternoon, the first trains started rolling again on the route in the greater Gelsenkirchen area.

A total of 300 local and long-distance trains were affected by the disruption by midday. Regional trains around Gelsenkirchen were canceled, were rerouted over a large area or ended earlier. Long-distance traffic was rerouted on a large scale.