The European XFEL will run with up to 27 000 bunches per second. Bunches with differentparameters can be delivered to several experiments in parallel. A hardware based synchronizationscheme to reliably control all subsystems has been developed. It is based on delaycompensated fiber links in a multi-start topology. Precision clocks, triggers, and configurationparameters are distributed from a central place to about 200 slave nodes distributedalong the 3 km long facility. A versatile protocol to synchronize all parts of the accelerator isused to prepare fast feedbacks, the machine protection systems, and the data acquisition beforethe subsequent bunch train. The timing system is based on the advanced features of theMicroTCA (MTCA.4) standard. First experiences with this system at FLASH will be described