Overview

• Unknowns opened a cable shaft near Leverkusen and cut multiple signal cables on Monday, disabling the interlocking and closing the Cologne–Düsseldorf line for about 17 hours.
• Police classify the Leverkusen incident as sabotage, with no suspects identified and no claim of responsibility reported by Tuesday afternoon.
• On Tuesday, a cable shaft fire halted trains between Lindern and Heinsberg; state security in Aachen took over the case and replacement buses were deployed.
• Additional disruptions included briefly closed routes around Duisburg due to burning sleepers and reported cable damage near Herzogenrath and in Heinsberg, with causes still under investigation.
• Separately, an electronic interlocking burned in Gerwisch near Magdeburg, destroying large parts of the equipment, causing a reported low‑million‑euro loss, triggering long‑distance reroutes and regional bus links, and prompting a federal police investigation.