Pakistan, June 24 -- Rail services across Germany were brought to a standstill for several hours after a nationwide communications system failure disrupted railway operations, leaving thousands of passengers stranded and causing widespread travel chaos.

The disruption began late Tuesday when a fault affected the GSM-R digital communications network, a critical system used for internal railway operations. The outage forced trains across the country to stop, with services suspended while technicians worked to restore communications between train drivers and control centers.

Passengers at major railway stations faced lengthy delays and uncertainty as trains remained halted. Long queues formed at information counters as travelers sought upd...