Overview
- Multiple railway cables were cut and pulled out near Gelsenkirchen early Saturday, disabling signals and control equipment and bringing regional and long‑distance services to a standstill.
- Deutsche Bahn imposed wide reroutes and cancellations, listed specific affected services and put replacement buses (Ersatzverkehr) in place while warning that restoration times are unclear.
- Local, state and federal police secured the scene, opened a probe into suspected cable theft and are collecting traces as investigators work to identify the perpetrators.
- Separately in Dresden, a lorry that hit tram overhead wiring earlier in the week led to temporary outages but DVB restored lines 7 and 8 with delays; DVB will shorten Line 7 for urgent switch repairs this weekend and start a multi‑year Königsbrücker Straße reconstruction on 28 September that will reroute lines 7 and 8 until around 2029.
- The incidents show how theft, accidents and planned works interact to disrupt travel because signalling and interlocking systems depend on trackside cabling, so passengers should expect continued timetable changes and monitor operator updates for repair and replacement‑bus information.