Germany halts rail traffic for 2.5 hours after radio system fails

Germany's rail network stopped nationwide for more than 2 1/2 hours late Tuesday after a failure in the GSM-R digital railway radio system cut internal communications used to run trains. Deutsche Bahn held trains at stations across the country and urged passengers to seek other ways to travel as lines formed at major hubs, including Berlin's central station. Shortly before 1 a.m., the operator said the disruption had been fixed and services were resuming gradually. Deutsche Bahn did not specify the cause, though it said technicians had identified the problem. The company also offered taxi and hotel vouchers and, where possible, kept trains available at stations for stranded travelers.