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TRAIN TRAVEL

Which German train routes are affected by France arson attacks?

A series of coordinated arson attacks have paralysed the French rail network on the opening day of the Olympics. Here's how passengers in Germany are affected.

Published: 26 July 2024 13:19 CEST
A man waits for a delayed Deutsche Bahn train in Stuttgart.
A man waits for a delayed Deutsche Bahn train in Stuttgart. Photo. picture alliance/dpa | Marijan Murat

France’s high-speed rail network was hit by a series of “connected” arson attacks on Friday that severely disrupted the transport system hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.

Some 800,000 passengers have been affected, train operator SNCF revealed.

“This is a massive attack on a large scale to paralyse the TGV network,” SNCF told AFP, adding that many routes would have to be cancelled and the situation would last, “at least all weekend while repairs are conducted”.

The attacks not only affect those travelling to Paris for the Olympics, but also Parisian holidaymakers trying to leave the city on one of the busiest summer weekends. 

In Germany, the impact has also been felt on cross-border routes in the southwestern states of Rhineland Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg. 

READ ALSO: What are my rights if a train is delayed or cancelled in Germany?

Speaking to SWR on Friday, a Deutsche Bahn spokesperson revealed that all express train connections from Germany to France had also been badly affected.

DB is in “close dialogue” with their French colleagues at SNCF, they added. 

Here are the lines affected as of early afternoon on Friday: 

Stuttgart – Karlsruhe – Paris: The ICE and TGV connections between Stuttgart and Paris via Karlsruhe are severely delayed. Travellers can currently expect delays of up to one hour. According to Deutsche Bahn’s traffic information, at least two connections between Stuttgart and Paris are cancelled.
Mannheim – Karlsruhe – Paris: The connections here are significantly delayed.
Mannheim – Kaiserslautern – Paris: According to Deutsche Bahn, this TGV and ICE connection will be completely cancelled on Friday.

According to Deutsche Bahn, there are delays and cancellations on these western routes because the trains in France will have to be rerouted large distances. However, the rail operator doesn’t expect there to be a major impact on other domestic routes in Germany.

Passengers affected can stay updated by keeping an eye on the Deutsche Bahn website and anyone with a ticket between Germany and France due to travel today can rebook free of charge. 

Could similar attacks happen in Germany?

That’s the opinion of Germany’s leading intelligence agency, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BV), who released a statement on Friday warning of heightened threats.

According to the BV, there is a “serious risk” of attacks on critical infrastructure in Germany at present, both from hostile states and from terrorist groups.

READ ALSO: How prepared is Germany in the event of a military attack?

Recent threat analyses have shown that there are numerous vulnerabilities that could serve as gateways for attacks, BV warned. Foreign intelligence services would be well-placed to exploit these in order to carry out acts of sabotage in Germany.

While threats from hostile actors are nothing new, the risk level has increased in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine back in 2022.

Since then, there has been a significant uptick in the number of attacks – and attempted attacks – carried out in Europe and on German soil. 

For more information and the latest on the France attacks, check out our coverage on The Local France:

READ ALSO: Which services are affected by arson attacks on France’s train network?

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TRAIN TRAVEL

Deutsche Bahn posts huge losses amid drop-off in long-distance passengers

Germany's state-owned train operator Deutsche Bahn said Thursday that its year-on-year net losses soared 16-fold in the first half of 2024, reflecting the impacts of extreme weather, strikes, and upgrades to its ageing network.

Published: 26 July 2024 11:08 CEST
Deutsche Bahn posts huge losses amid drop-off in long-distance passengers

The net loss for the first six months of the year reached €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion), compared with a loss of €71 million in the period last year. Its operating losses also stood at €1.2 billion, after €339 million in the first half of 2023.

CEO Richard Lutz blamed an “ageing network prone to malfunctions” as well as “extreme weather events” and labour strikes that caused the company “considerable economic damage.”

Deutsche Bahn’s creaking infrastructure and poor punctuality have become running jokes in Germany and were put under the spotlight by the increased demand when the country hosted this summer’s Euro 2024 football tournament.

“The infrastructure is too old and worn to cope with this sort of situation with no problems,” Lutz said at a press conference. The company is spending billions to repair, upgrade, and extend its network after decades of under-investment.

Deutsche Bahn estimates that such work cost €4 billion in the first half of 2024, a 35 percent year-on-year increase. The floods that battered southern Germany in early June added to the company’s woes by damaging much of its infrastructure.

READ ALSO: How travelling on German trains has become a nightmare for foreigners

The number of long-distance trains arriving with a delay of more than six minutes was slightly up on last year, at 37.3 percent, well above the European average. A historically long strike also hit the network early this year, with Deutsche Bahn estimating that it cost €300 million in total.

Richard Lutz, CEO of Deutsche Bahn

Richard Lutz, CEO of Deutsche Bahn, takes part in a presentation of the new ICE-4 trains in Cottbus. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Patrick Pleul

Drop-off in passengers

Passengers appear to be responding to the issues with the ailing rail service: in the first six months of 2024, there was a six percent drop in the number of long-distance passengers compared to the year before, with 64.2 million people taking train journeys this year so far.

With the latest figures looking so dismal, the rail operator’s target of doubling the number of kilometres travelled by train in Germany is starting to look much less realistic.

Nevertheless, Deutsche Bahn is confident that the negative trend won’t continue for long.

According to CFO Holle, sales in long-distance transport were already significantly better in June than in the previous months, while regional transport recorded six percent more passengers in the first half of the year than in the same period last year, partly due to the Deutschlandticket.

READ ALSO: How Germany can solve its endless rail problems

Demand is particularly strong on the central routes, said Lutz.

The German government is also on board with the goal of doubling passenger numbers and increasing freight on the railway – but finances are still a concern. 

The operator is indebted to the tune of more than €30 billion, and its problems are a headache for the government, which wants the rail network to play a key role in decarbonising the country’s transport sector.

The government’s plan to invest €45 billion in the railways by 2037 had to be cut back to €30 billion after a constitutional court judgment last year upended its spending plans.

In light of the poor figures, Deutsche Bahn has said it will cut around 1,500 management jobs this year in order to make savings in operational costs, with up to 30,000 job cuts possible in future. 

With reporting by DPA

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