German Cabinet approves tougher criminal penalties for attacks on train staff and emergency workers

Expanded legal protection for public workers

On 30 September 2026, the German Federal Cabinet approved a draft law from Federal Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig to increase criminal penalties for assaults against public-facing personnel. The legislation amends the German Criminal Code to extend protections previously limited to law enforcement officers to train attendants, bus drivers, medical personnel, and employees of public utilities such as water, power, and heat networks. Physical attacks on these professions will now face the same baseline criminal penalties that apply to assaults against police officers. Minister Hubig outlined the scope of the measure during a cabinet briefing:

Those who keep our country running deserve our protection.

Stricter sentencing and severe assault terms

The draft bill raises the minimum prison sentence for physical assaults on enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency paramedics, and civil protection personnel from three months to six months. In cases classified as particularly severe, the potential prison term increases from the previous range of six months to five years up to a new bracket of one to ten years. The law categorizes insidious ambushes, the use of weapons, collective assaults, and attacks resulting in grave danger to victims as particularly severe offences. In addition, penalties for resisting enforcement officers increase from a previous maximum of three years to up to five years, or up to ten years in severe circumstances.

The legal reforms also introduce additional measures concerning local governance and hate speech. In cases involving attacks on public officials or politicians, courts must explicitly consider whether an offence impairs work carried out for the public good, with protections explicitly covering municipal council members and mayors. Agency supervisors will be authorized to file criminal insult complaints on behalf of employees targeted during their service. Furthermore, courts will have discretionary power to strip individuals convicted of incitement to hatred (Volksverhetzung) of their eligibility to hold public office or stand in elections for two to five years, provided the prison sentence is at least one year.

Triggers and implementation debate

The Justice Ministry presented an initial concept in late 2025, but political momentum grew following the death of train conductor Serkan C. in February 2026. Serkan C. died after being assaulted by a ticketless passenger on a train between Kaiserslautern and Saarbrücken. Deutsche Bahn registers approximately five physical attacks per day on its operational staff, according to figures cited by Minister Hubig. Federal Transport Minister Steffen Bilger backed the cabinet decision, noting that escalating incidents across public transit required criminal code adjustments.

Deutsche Bahn welcomed the legislative reform as a complement to corporate safety measures, which include body cameras, upgraded protective equipment, and employee de-escalation training. However, the German Judges Association (Deutscher Richterbund) pointed out structural enforcement hurdles within the legal system. Sven Rebehn, federal managing director of the association, cautioned that legislative changes require adequate staffing:

Tougher criminal laws achieve little as long as an overburdened criminal justice system is not in a position to effectively enforce them.

Rebehn stressed that federal state governments must recruit additional prosecutors and judges to process cases efficiently. The draft law now proceeds to the Bundestag for deliberation and does not require approval from the Bundesrat.