Overview
- Unidentified perpetrators opened an underground cable shaft near Leverkusen and cut multiple signal cables with a cutting tool, disabling a signal box and halting traffic on the key north–south corridor.
- Deutsche Bahn diverted long-distance trains and ran replacement buses for regional services before restoring regular operations on Monday evening; Tuesday morning service ran normally.
- A separate outage caused by a damaged overhead line near Uelzen stopped Berlin–Hamburg services on Monday, with repairs completed overnight and traffic resuming early Tuesday.
- Kriminalpolizei and the Staatsschutz are collecting evidence and assessing motive, and authorities have not announced arrests or definitive findings.
- Transport remained under pressure from other incidents, including a Tuesday morning track closure between Duisburg and Mülheim due to burned sleepers and ongoing detours after a freight derailment near Emmerich.