German rail system targeted again in sabotage act: Report

BERLIN 

Germany's railway system has again become the target of a sabotage attack, local media reported on Friday.

According to news magazine Der Spiegel, strangers cut several cable connections on a railway line near the western city of Essen, causing failures in the control system.

The unknown perpetrators broke reportedly into two signal box buildings on a railway line in a suburb of Essen last Sunday.

Based on an internal official note on the incident, they "specifically" cut through important cables in several switch boxes.

The route near the scene of the crime, on which only freight trains travel, had to be closed to train traffic after the damage was discovered, as several railroad crossings were without electricity.

The route had only been reopened the day before after a year of construction.

The police state protection has started its investigation. The case is reminiscent of similar acts of sabotage in October. At that time, unknown people first cut through the fiber optic cable of the railway's internal mobile network in the western city of Herne and a few hours later in Berlin.

As a result, train traffic was canceled for several hours in large parts of northern Germany.