Germany went off the rails as wireless outage saw all trains cancelled
Unexplained GSM-R failure at Deutsche Bahn caused confusion and delay
Train services are resuming across Germany this morning, after rail operator Deutsche Bahn (DB) last night shut down operations after its wireless network failed.
At 10:30 PM local time on Tuesday night, DB advised that its GSM-R network was down, meaning all trains had to be held at stations. We understand that even suburban trains ground to a halt.
GSM-R is a version of the 2G GSM standard tuned to the needs of rail operators, who use it to power private networks that carry information necessary to keep their services rolling. The tech is considered obsolete and DB knows it because the company has already signed with Nokia for a 5G replacement that will use the Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS) – a move also under consideration in the UK.
For now, however, DB needs its GSM-R to connect...
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