Deliberate damage to railway cables in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia caused train cancellations, delays and diversions on long-distance services in Germany on Saturday.
The rail operator Deutsche Bahn said services affected by the disruption include routes from Dortmund to Munich, Hamburg to Basel, and northern Germany to Cologne.
The entire Gelsenkirchen metropolitan area is currently impassable, according to the Zuginfo.nrw information portal. It is not yet clear how long the repair work will take.
A police spokesman said suspected cable theft is being investigated along a railway line in the Gelsenkirchen-Ückendorf district where signals and control systems have failed.
The thieves are believed to have crudely cut through and ripped out the cables alongside the tracks at several points. The police were informed at around 5 am (0300 GMT).
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