Germanys rail network buckles under heat as Deutsche Bahn warns of disruptions and offers free cancellations
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11 months · 10 summary articles
Germany’s rail network is buckling under a second consecutive week of record-breaking heat, forcing Deutsche Bahn to issue blanket travel warnings and offer free ticket cancellations until Tuesday as engineers brace for further disruptions. The operator confirmed on Thursday that extreme temperatures are already warping tracks and overloading air-conditioning systems, with regional services in Denmark and Sweden also reducing weekend and overnight schedules following a fatal head-on collision in April.
Deutsche Bahn announced the no-fee cancellation policy on Wednesday evening, citing “anticipated heat-related service disruptions” through at least 1 July. Passengers holding tickets for any booked journey can now cancel without charge, a concession welcomed by Lukas Iffländer of the Pro Bahn passenger association, who demanded a long-term strategy for climate resilience. “We have waited too long to invest in heat-proof infrastructure,” Iffländer said. “Politics and the railway must now present a credible plan for the coming decades.”
Rail travellers in Sweden and Denmark face similar constraints. Denmark’s Lokaltog will cut weekend and night services from Saturday on multiple regional lines to maintain safety margins after the Gribskov accident, which killed two people and injured 23. The reduced timetable runs until late August. Sweden’s SJ has also reported broken air-conditioning units on high-speed trains, with one passenger describing 51°C conditions on the Gothenburg–Stockholm route as “absolutely unbearable.”
In Germany, Deutsche Bahn’s infrastructure chief admitted that the network’s aging overhead lines and ballast are “not designed for sustained temperatures above 35°C.” Deutsche Bahn has begun emergency water deliveries to major stations and is deploying additional cooling trains, but the company’s own long-term targets have been downgraded. CEO Evelyn Palla told the *Tagesspiegel* that punctuality will not return to pre-2020 levels until the 2030s, as the company phases repairs across three separate investment cycles.
The heatwave has also triggered unplanned outages: on Wednesday evening, a nationwide communication-system failure halted regional and long-distance trains for more than two hours, adding to the chaos. Meanwhile, Croatia is bucking the trend by launching new seasonal night services from Zagreb, Osijek and Vukovar to Split and other Dalmatian destinations, offering passengers a cooler alternative to daytime travel.
With meteorologists forecasting further temperature spikes, Deutsche Bahn has urged passengers to “reconsider non-essential journeys,” while reiterating that free cancellations remain available until Tuesday.
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Articles
Lokaltog to run fewer weekend trains rest of summer Starting June 29 and for the rest of the summer, Lokaltog will run fewer trains on weekends and at night across several routes. This reduced timetable aims to ensure stable operations following a serious head-on train accident on the Gribskov line in April. Since the accident, several train drivers and support staff have called in […]
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