According to a spokesman for Austrian rail operator OBB, two individuals reportedly opened the drivers’ intercom booths on a train and played excerpts from a speech by Adolf Hitler over the loudspeakers. The incident occurred Sunday on a train traveling between Bregenz and Vienna.
Passengers on the train also heard the phrases “Heil Hitler!” and “Sieg Heil!”—greetings associated with Nazism. Colette Schmidt, editor of a local newspaper, was on the train and shared the events on Twitter.
OBB ruled out that the incident was the result of a cyber attack external to the train, and through an analysis of security cameras, it was determined that two people had carried out the sabotage using the intercoms.
It is believed that the suspects used a key that all train employees possess to open the drivers’ intercom booths and play back the recordings. Those involved had no control over the train’s formation.
Although none of the suspects have been questioned, the audio-visual evidence incriminates them. OBB will investigate the incident due to “intervention in safety-relevant railway infrastructure” and the dissemination of Nazi propaganda, which is a criminal offense in Austria.
According to the Associated Press, the perpetrators are also suspected of involvement in similar incidents last week on trains heading from Sankt Pölten to Vienna. However, it is unclear whether these recordings also had Nazi connotations.