New Delh: Germany’s rail network had a rough Tuesday night after Deutsche Bahn stopped trains across the country following a nationwide IT disruption linked to its digital railway radio system.

The outage hit GSM-R, the system used by train drivers to speak with control centres. Reuters reported that services resumed early Wednesday after the issue was fixed, but passengers were told to expect delays and cancellations as trains slowly returned to normal.

What Happened At Deutsche Bahn?

At around 22:30 local time, Deutsche Bahn said all trains were being held at stations. The company later said the fault had affected internal communication channels and that the cause had been found.

“Our IT experts worked tirelessly to resolve the issue, successfully,” Deutsche Bahn said, adding that services were “gradually resuming.” It thanked passengers for their patience, which, frankly, must have been doing heavy lifting that night.

Deutsche Bahn CEO Evelyn Palla told German newspaper Bild, as cited by Deutsche Welle, that teams were trying to get trains into stations so travellers could get off safely.

The Details

Point Detail

Company	Deutsche Bahn
Country	Germany
Date	June 23, 2026
System affected	GSM-R railway radio
Impact	Trains held at stations nationwide
Disruption length	More than 2.5 hours
Status	Fixed, services resumed gradually
Passenger support	Taxi, hotel vouchers, replacement transport where possible

Why A Radio System Can Stop Trains

GSM-R is a railway communication system. It helps train drivers and control rooms stay in touch. If that channel breaks, trains cannot simply keep moving as if nothing happened.

This is where the cyber security angle kicks in. Deutsche Bahn has not called it a cyber attack. No hacking claim has been confirmed. Still, the incident shows how one digital fault can stop a real-world service used by lakhs of people.

Anyone who has missed a train after a platform change knows the pain. Now scale that across a country.

What Passengers Were Told

Deutsche Bahn asked passengers to look for other travel options and warned of major delays. S-Bahn Berlin said the GSM-R outage had been resolved and trains could run again, but delays and cancellations could continue.