Germany mounted one of its biggest peacetime security operations this morning as protesters tried to stop a nuclear waste shipment reaching a storage site in the north of the country.
Police mobilised 15,000 officers to guard the six containers - carrying highly radioactive waste from German nuclear power plants that was reprocessed in France.
Police said the train had stopped on the tracks between the towns of Maschen and Lueneburg and would continue towards the northern town of Dannenberg this afternoon.
It is expected to make the final 20 kilometres by road to the Gorleben storage site today or tomorrow, depending on the intensity of the protests.
The train began its rail journey to the storage site at Gorleben from a reprocessing plant at La Hague on France's northwest coast on Sunday.
The toughest efforts by anti-nuclear demonstrators to halt the containers were expected to take place at Dannenberg. Previous shipments have been hit by violence and disruption from Germany's strong anti-nuclear lobby.
Last night, police moved in to end a three-hour, sit-down protest by about 600 demonstrators on track near Gorleben. Dozens of people were arrested.
Germany adopted legislation last month to phase out nuclear power over the next two decades. The government has also been re-examining the safety of nuclear convoys and power plants following the September 11th attacks in the US.