Commuters and travelers in Germany faced major disruptions on Monday morning as train traffic on one of the country’s busiest long-distance routes ground to a halt.
ICE services between Hamburg and Berlin were suspended due to an overhead line failure, with further disruptions reported in regional services and in western Germany around Cologne and Düsseldorf.
Hamburg–Berlin route closed
Deutsche Bahn confirmed that no direct train services were running between Hamburg and Berlin.
Passengers were advised to reroute via Hanover, though the company warned of overcrowded trains.
Some ICE services were completely cancelled, while others were rerouted with delays of up to 50 minutes. Intermediate stops in Celle, Uelzen, and Lüneburg were suspended.
The cause of the outage was traced to a damaged overhead line near Uelzen in Lower Saxony.
Repair crews worked on-site, with the railway operator expecting the disruption to last into the afternoon.
Travelers with restricted “train-specific” tickets were told they could use alternative services or postpone their trips without penalty.
Regional services affected
Regional operator Metronom reported severe delays and cancellations on its RE3 and RB31 routes.
Replacement buses were deployed between Bad Bevensen and Uelzen, while services between Hamburg and Bad Bevensen ran with delays.
Metronom expected knock-on effects well into the evening.
Additional disruption in western Germany
Compounding the chaos, rail services in North Rhine-Westphalia were also hit.
On the key commuter corridor between Cologne and Düsseldorf, several regional trains were rerouted after cable damage at a signal box.
Police said the cables had been deliberately cut, and criminal investigators were called in.
As a result, regional express lines RE1 and RE5 were diverted to run directly between Cologne and Düsseldorf without intermediate stops, which are instead being served by replacement buses.
S-Bahn line 6 was cut short in Langenfeld, forcing passengers heading toward Cologne to switch to buses. According to Deutsche Bahn, disruptions in the region were expected to continue until at least 2 p.m.
Monday’s events once again highlight the vulnerability of Germany’s rail infrastructure. With both technical defects and suspected sabotage affecting travel, commuters were left facing crowded trains, long delays, and improvised bus connections across multiple regions.
