Alstom, the France-based supplier of equipment for the centres, announced that a defect in its machinery was to blame for the breakdown, Poland's state PAP news agency reported.
Alstom added there had been "no cyberattack" on the Polish rail system, according to public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency.
Meanwhile, Polish Deputy Infrastructure Minister Andrzej Bittel said Alstom had reported similar technical problems in Thailand, India, Peru, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Italy.
Bittel added that Polish authorities would investigate the breakdown, IAR reported.
Earlier, Poland’s top cybersecurity official Janusz Cieszyński told reporters that the government’s Critical Incidents Task Force would convene to look into the crash.
Polish rail system crashes
According to the national rail operator PKP PLK, the breakdown occurred at 4 a.m. on Thursday, with 19 of the system's 33 train control centres going out of action. Some 820 kilometres of Poland’s rail network were affected, including a major route from the capital Warsaw to the northern port city of Gdańsk.
As a result, trains were being cancelled or delayed by "dozens of minutes," officials said, adding that some trains could be re-routed or replaced with bus service, PAP reported.
On Thursday afternoon, Bittel said that 354 of Poland’s 444 passenger trains were delayed. He added, however, that roughly half the train control centres which had malfunctioned "were now reactivated."
It may take until Friday for normal rail service to be resumed, authorities said.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP