Sabotage of the S-Bahn: Commuters in Stade and Neugraben are desperate!

Sabotage of the S-Bahn: Commuters in Stade and Neugraben are desperate!

In the last few days, a serious disruption on the S-Bahn line between Stade and Hamburg-Neugraben caused excitement and dissatisfaction among commuters. On the first weekend of November, more precisely on November 5, 2025, the connection was almost completely stopped. A clear case of sabotage is suspected as the cause kreiszeitung-wochenblatt.de reported.

The meeting of politicians and railway officials revealed that poor communication was a key obstacle during the incident. The S-Bahn managing director Jan Schröder together with the CDU state parliament member Birgit Butter criticized the inadequate flow of information when cable lines were destroyed by sabotage. Commuters complained about the train's long radio silence, which led to bitter frustration.

Birgit Butter considers the resilience of the railway infrastructure to be insufficient, criticizes the dangers posed by malicious influences and calls for an electronic signal box in Harburg to increase the reliability of the connection between Stade and Harburg. There was also discussion about fencing individual sections of the route in order to prevent future acts of sabotage.

Modernization and capacity increase in prospect

These safety concerns come at a time when the Hamburg Senate already has extensive plans to modernize the S-Bahn network. Anjes Tjarks, Senator for Transport and Mobility Transition, announced a new S-Bahn line S6, which is intended to improve the frequency between Elbgaustraße and Neugraben. Construction work is planned to begin next year with the aim of increasing hourly capacity by 40 percent, as hamburg.de points out.

Investments of around 425 million euros are planned to upgrade the routes by 2026. These measures not only include the renewal of power, switch and signaling technology, but also the installation of new rectifier stations that are intended to supply green electricity. The modernization is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2029 and aims to strengthen the corridor to Harburg and that to Bergedorf.

Security situation and acts of sabotage

However, reports of acts of sabotage cast a shadow over the planned improvements. Every day, the railway reports at least one incident that leads to route closures. It is still unclear whether left-wing extremist groups or other actors such as Russia are behind the attacks. The Green Party security politician Konstantin von Notz expressed concerns about the technical knowledge of the attackers, who are always able to cause significant damage, as tagesschau.de reports.

Investigations are ongoing and the Federal Ministry of the Interior has already drawn attention to the increasing activities. In view of the tense security situation, Deutsche Bahn is required to better protect its infrastructure in order to avoid future incidents and not further endanger the trust of passengers.