Firefighters rescue passengers from stricken train in latest Deutsche Bahn mishap

German national rail service blames malfunctioning and delays on lack of investment and staff shortages

Firefighters had to rescue about 1,200 passengers onboard a regional express train that broke down south-east of Berlin at the weekend, in the latest in a string of failures and mishaps to befall the national rail service, Deutsche Bahn.

The firefighters had to force open the train's doors to free passengers, some of whom were suffering from heat exhaustion after a lengthy holdup in the train in which the air conditioning failed.