Pistorius set to scrap warship project — media

Train services across Germany were brought to a halt for more than two hours late on Tuesday night after a communications system failed.

National rail operator Deutsche Bahn says it is now investigating the cause of the glitch.

You can stoppage and its impact on travel within Germany in our detailed coverage here.

Germany plans to scrap plans to build six F126 frigates, a multi-billion-euro project that would have been the biggest in the history of the country’s navy, media have reported.

Both the German news magazine Spiegel and the British daily Financial Timessaid Defense Minister Boris Pistorius instead intended to buy eight smaller MEKO A-200 frigates from warship builder TKMS.

The news could be a blow to defense contractor Rheinmetall, which had been set to take over the F126 frigate project from Dutch shipbuilder Damen ​in ⁠the second quarter, according to its CEO, Armin Papperger.

The planned change in warship model is backed by the navy leadership, the reports said.

The Meko A-200 frigates are some 120 meters long (394 feet long), considerably shorter than the 166-meter-long F126s.

The F126 project had been afflicted with several problems and delays.

Guten Tagfrom the DW newsroom in Bonn as Germany continues to swelter amid a long heat wave.

You join us after a tech outage brought the country’s trains to a standstill late on Tuesday night. National rail operator Deutsche Bahn (DB) is looking into what might have caused the glitch, and you can read all the details here at DW.

The stoppage came just before DB’s supervisory board is to hold a two-day conference where CEO Evelyn Palla is due to present her strategy to restructure Germany’s long-neglected rail system over the coming years.

In more train-related news, the trial begins on Wednesday of a man accused of fatally assaulting a conductor during a ticket inspection.

And German armaments company Rheinmetall might be in for a disappointment if media reports are confirmed that a project to build six F126 frigates is to be scrapped.

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