Is the railroad adequately safeguarded against potential acts of sabotage, given the recent fire incident?
In the heart of western Germany, a series of railway disruptions took place between Düsseldorf and Duisburg in late July and early August 2025. The disruptions were attributed to arson attacks on cable ducts, causing significant delays and rerouting of hundreds of trains.
The incidents, which occurred within two days, targeted key infrastructure on the railway line, disrupting the heavily used "Wupper axis" and "Ruhr axis" routes that run through North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). These disruptions had enormous effects on long-distance connections to Berlin, causing severe inconvenience to thousands of rail customers who were forced to switch to shuttle buses.
The anarchist group, "Kommando Angry Birds," claimed responsibility for the sabotage. This diffuse group, as described by NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU), posts instructions for sabotage acts on the internet, with others carrying out the acts without necessarily knowing each other.
In a confession letter published on a left-wing platform called Indymedia, the "Kommando Angry Birds" confirmed their responsibility for sabotaging the rail line. The group, which describes itself as "against industrial systems," reportedly has anarchist and anti-industrial sentiments as their motivation.
However, the identity of those responsible for the railway sabotage is not yet clear, and the police must still verify the authenticity of the group's claim.
The railway's protection measures, which include modern technology such as sensors, thermal cameras, drones, cameras, footfall sensors, and multiple cable layings, have been found to be inadequate. The cables, while protected, are vulnerable due to a lack of proper protection, making them susceptible to attacks.
The railway's infrastructure, spanning vast distances, is impossible to guard around the clock. This vulnerability has led to concerns about the resilience and security of the infrastructure.
To address these concerns, it is proposed to introduce digital signaling technology, which would allow faults due to cable breaks to be fixed faster in the future. Additionally, more switches and crossover points should be added to the infrastructure to increase its resilience and reaction capacities. More personnel should be trained to fix such incidents, and resources should be distributed more evenly across the country.
Common incidents such as accidents should also be focused on in the areas of resilience and infrastructure security. The infrastructure must be set up in such a way that it can be quickly restored to operation in the event of any incident.
Terrorism expert Holger Schmidt warns against limiting the investigation to the left-wing extremist scene, as saboteurs controlled by Russia have also carried out attacks in Germany. The "Kommando Angry Birds" is not a new name in the world of sabotage; in the past, the group has claimed responsibility for attacks, including on railway tracks.
However, sabotage is not the only problem that the railway has to deal with; theft of cables has been a major issue for years. This, along with the recent acts of sabotage, underscores the need for improved resilience and security measures in the railway sector.
- Despite the railway's adoption of advanced protection measures, incidents such as the arson attacks on cable ducts highlight a need for increased resilience and security, with sabotage not being the only challenge facing the industry, as theft of cables has been a persistent issue.
- In the realm of general news, sports, crime-and-justice, and travel, it's not just competitors facing off on the sports field but also in the struggle to safeguard infrastructure from acts of sabotage, with anarchist groups like "Kommando Angry Birds" being a recurring threat, as seen in the recent railway disruptions between Düsseldorf and Duisburg.
