Railway traffic disrupted in Bavaria following bomb scare

All trains in and around the town of Treuchtlingen in Franconia were stopped after a suspicious piece of luggage was found on the tracks on Thursday morning.

As of about 2 pm, Federal Police have confirmed that the luggage contained no explosives, following examination by a bomb squad, but regional railway traffic remained disrupted in the surrounding region.

No explosives found in ‘suspicious object’

“The investigations have revealed that it is not an explosive,” Middle Franconia said in a WhatsApp message.

But police believe “the object was deliberately placed there to cause a disruption”.

“The criminal police are on site and are securing evidence. Rail traffic therefore remains suspended.”

Specialised police units were called out after the object was discovered in the morning and used a robot to move the item for closer examination with an X-ray device.

German authorities are on high-alert following a series of recent incidents that officials have described as “hybrid attacks”. Within the past week flights were disrupted at both Hanover and Leipzig airports due to drone activity. The incident at Leipzig involved a drone carrying an explosive device, which had not detonated.

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Where is railway traffic disrupted?

Treuchtlingen, with about 13,000 residents, lies roughly 150 kilometres north of Munich located between Nuremberg and Ingolstadt.

The city is formerly an important railway junction, but the Nuremberg-Ingolstadt high-speed line runs further east. Accordingly, most ICE connections between Munich and Nuremberg were not affected.

However, according to Deutsche Bahn the RB 16, RE 16 and RE 60 regional lines were disrupted. A replacement service with buses and large-capacity taxis was set up while trains were stopped. 

With reporting by AFP & DPA.