Image source, Shutterstock
- author, Ido Vock
- role, BBC News
French rail operator SNCF warned that disruptions caused by Friday’s vandalism on the country’s rail network could continue into the weekend, affecting hundreds of thousands of further passengers.
Simultaneous arson attacks on three TGV high-speed train lines caused chaos for travellers on Friday, just hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics. A fourth attack was thwarted by railway officials.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal described the attack as an “act of vandalism.”
Around a quarter of international Eurostar train services were also cancelled, with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also affected.
In a statement on Friday evening, SNCF said traffic on the affected lines “will improve” on Saturday thanks to the work of thousands of rail workers.
- On the Eastern line, trains will operate as normal from 6am (5am BST) on Saturday.
- On the Northern Line, 80% of trains will operate, but with delays of 1-2 hours.
- On the Southwest Line, 60% of trains will operate, but there will be delays of one to two hours.
The company added that customers whose trains are delayed or cancelled will be contacted by email or text message.
Eurostar said it expected around a fifth of its weekend services to be cancelled and all trains on the northern express line to be delayed by around an hour and a half.
SNCF said it had stepped up surveillance of its rail network “on the ground and in the air”, using 1,000 workers and 50 drones.
Transport Deputy Minister Patrice Bergliette said some 250,000 people were affected on Friday and up to 800,000 could face delays or cancellations by Monday.
He added that the saboteurs’ most likely aim was to disrupt holiday travel, not Friday’s Olympic opening ceremony.
“It has nothing to do with the Olympics necessarily,” he said in an interview.
The last weekend in July is traditionally a busy day for holiday travel.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, and a source close to the investigation told AFP it was “well prepared” and organised by a “single organisation”.
Atal said security forces were searching for those responsible.
Officials said saboteurs cut special fibre optic cables vital to the safe functioning of the rail network and set them on fire around 4 a.m. on Friday.
One of the sites was in Courtallan, 150km southwest of Paris, where photos posted online showed charred electricity cables lying in a shallow trench with protective SNCF paving stones discarded.
SNCF said there had been “large-scale attacks aimed at paralysing” its services not only in Courtallan but also in the villages of Pagny-sur-Moselle, on the outskirts of the eastern city of Metz, and Croisilles, not far from the northern city of Arras.
Another attempted attack in Verginy, southeast of Paris, was thwarted early on Friday by SNCF workers carrying out maintenance work at the site.
Prosecutors have launched an investigation into attacks on the “fundamental interests of the state.”
