Overview

• A signal cabinet near Lehrte burned late Friday, and an unrelated Saturday-night road crash in Hannover-Kleefeld hurled a concrete bollard onto the tracks, damaging an overhead line.
• An ICE with about 900 passengers was halted and evacuated after the overhead line was struck; several medical incidents were reported during the hours-long stoppage, and the train was later towed by a diesel locomotive.
• Deutsche Bahn is rerouting long-distance services, with current delays typically around 25 minutes from Hannover toward Berlin and additional cancellations on both directions of the corridor.
• Investigators removed the damaged cabinet for analysis and are testing for a technical defect or deliberate ignition, while the railway labeled the incident as vandalism on its website.
• IC connections toward Magdeburg face roughly 25-minute delays, and the disruptions have affected large numbers of travelers, including thousands of football fans.