Microsoft outage disrupts Deutsche Bahn rail operations, Digi Mart USA News (Germany): Germany’s national railway company, Deutsche Bahn, reported a major disruption under incident number BZI_34678, describing Microsoft Outlook as “running extremely slowly.” The rail operator suspected problems with Microsoft’s server infrastructure, and the disruption appears to be linked to a wider Microsoft outage described as “Service degradation on Microsoft 365 (Business or Enterprise) and Microsoft consumer products.”
According to the notice, the disruption began at 7 p.m. on November 12 and was listed as lasting until the start of the day.
As a result, Deutsche Bahn had difficulty sending timetables for diverted services, a problem compounded by extensive construction work across its network. An update was issued shortly before midnight, according to an info bot on Mastodon.
Most overnight rail traffic consists of freight trains, but the impact is difficult to assess. The notice does not specify how many timetables need to be sent at short notice or whether the disruption will also affect daytime passenger services, which begin around 4 to 5 a.m.
local time.
Reports of rail communication problems have also emerged elsewhere. Australia’s ABC reported that an unnamed rail operator was having trouble sending emails, according to a post on Bluesky, and that the operator apparently could not dispatch trains onto its network.
Canada’s Via Rail also reported problems on Twitter, stating that its operations were unaffected but that customer communications were disrupted, preventing it from sending train delay notifications.
Microsoft is working to resolve the outage, but servers it brought back online subsequently froze again, leaving some services with limited availability. Exchange Online is among the affected services, with users potentially unable to access their mailboxes through Outlook on the web or Outlook desktop.
Windows 365 Cloud PCs are also among the impacted services, which can affect entire workstations.
