347/69 Friday, June 26, 2026
Reports indicate that, at 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s national railway operator, informed passengers that trains across the country had to stop at stations due to a nationwide outage in the GSM-R system, or Global System for Mobile Communications – Railway. GSM-R is an internal communication system used for communication between train drivers and rail traffic control centers. When the system became unavailable, safe train operations could not continue, affecting local, regional, and long-distance trains, as well as S-Bahn services in several cities, including Berlin and Stuttgart.
Deutsche Bahn identified the cause of the outage within approximately 90 minutes after the first notification, and services were restored before 1:00 a.m. The company apologized to affected passengers and provided alternative arrangements, such as replacement buses, taxi vouchers, and hotel accommodation in some cases. However, Deutsche Bahn executives stated that, in the early stages, the exact cause of the problem was still unclear, and trains had to be brought into stations so passengers could safely disembark. By the following morning, the company said the overall situation had returned to normal, although some delays or disruptions could still occur.
GSM-R is a dedicated railway communication technology based on 2G networks and has been used in Europe since the early 2000s. This incident highlights the risks faced by critical infrastructure that still relies primarily on legacy communication systems. Deutsche Bahn already plans to transition to a 5G-based system under the Future Railway Mobile Communication System standard in cooperation with Nokia. At present, there is no evidence that the outage was caused by a cyberattack or physical damage, such as cut communication cables. However, the incident has raised concerns about the readiness and resilience of critical infrastructure, particularly Europe’s rail systems, which have been targeted by cyberattacks and sabotage in several countries in recent years, including Poland, the Czech Republic, and Denmark.