Overview
- Early Saturday morning police were alerted at about 4:55 a.m., after which damaged trackside cabling caused signals and remote control systems to fail and trains in the greater Gelsenkirchen area to stop.
- Deutsche Bahn and Zuginfo.nrw report widespread cancellations, early terminations and reroutes on regional services including RE1, RE2, RE6, RE42, RB32, RB46 and S2 and on some long‑distance routes.
- Replacement bus services have been set up on multiple links with local operators such as Vias Bus, Haniqi Reisen, Aydin Reisen and BusCompany Lapok covering segments between Wanne‑Eickel, Herne, Gelsenkirchen and Essen.
- Police in Gelsenkirchen opened a criminal investigation into suspected cable theft after finding cables cut and pulled from the track, and no arrests or repair completion estimates have been reported.
- Because signalling depends on intact trackside cabling, the damage can force safety stops and cascade delays across NRW and intercity connections, so passengers should check journeys before travel and expect ongoing disruption.