Cologne's main train station closed for construction work for 10 days

No long-distance or regional trains will run at one of Germany's most important stations for 10 days after the rail operator started construction work for a new signal box at Cologne Central Station on Friday.

Until the morning of November 24, travellers will only be able to reach the central station of the million-strong city by underground or suburban commuter trains.

However, the construction work that was actually planned during the closure cannot be implemented as intended. At the last moment, the rail operator Deutsche Bahn discovered errors in the software for the new signal box and therefore postponed its commissioning to next year.

The long-distance and regional tracks at Cologne Central Station will have to be closed a second time - but not for as long as this time. "What we can already tell passengers is that the second closure will be shorter," said Matthias Gramer, regional manager at InfraGo, the railway subsidiary responsible for infrastructure.

Problems at one of Germany's most important stations

The top priority now is to quickly resolve the software problem so that the new electronic signal box can be put into operation. The error, which was only identified at short notice, was not foreseeable, the rail operator emphasized.

More than 50 new signal boxes are put into operation in Germany every year. Deutsche Bahn said that it regrets that there have been problems specifically at Cologne Central Station.

The 10-day closure of Cologne Central Station for long-distance and regional trains can still be used to prepare signals, points and overhead lines for control from the new signal box.

During the closure next year, mainly old signals that are still needed for train traffic in the meantime will have to be dismantled. This will then proceed more quickly.