In a transverse flux machine, the rotor has multiple permanent magnet rings that are arranged axially in proximity to one another. The stator surrounds the rotor concentrically in at least some sections, forming an air gap. The stator has multiple stator coils oriented coaxially with the permanent magnet rings and the stator coil has two terminals. An active reactive power source to be controlled has two terminals for each stator coil, the respective stator coil being connected to each. In the event of a fault incident in one of the stator coils, a monitoring arrangement supplies triggering signals for the active reactive power source so that the two terminals of the respective stator coil are interconnected with a low resistance.