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27-07-2024
PARIS/ LONDON/ NEW YORK: A series of fires has hit French high-speed rail lines, hours before the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.
Rail company SNCF says it’s a “massive attack aimed at paralyzing the network”; France’s transport minister condemns the “coordinated malicious acts.”
Some 800,000 customers will be affected with disruption expected all weekend, the rail firm says.
One in four Eurostar services across its entire network will be cancelled until Monday.
Maxine George, from Emsworth in Hampshire, was on one of the first Eurostar services out of London St Pancras and she has got in touch to share her experience.
“The train arrived two hours late,” Maxine says. “About one hour into the journey we were told there had been an incident and we were routing through ‘the classic route’.”
Maxine describes the scene in Paris Gare du Nord as “chaotic but calm”.
“There is an extensive security and police presence,” she adds.
Now Maxine is in Paris she says she is looking forward to catching the opening ceremony later tonight before heading back home on Saturday.
She adds: “We are meant to be travelling back tomorrow lunchtime on Eurostar if it is working!”
The French rail network is slowly resuming fast speed train services on the lines that had been sabotaged overnight.
The SNCF has just provided an update to media, reporting that emergency repairs are now permitting limited services this afternoon between the French capital and Brittany in the west, as well as to the south-west, including Bordeaux and Toulouse.
Rail travel is also picking up between Paris and Lille as well as Strasbourg, but delays of up to two hours are expected for all fast speed (TGV) rail services.
The SNCF stresses that the disruption will continue all weekend on what is traditionally one of the busiest travel weekends in France. As well as tourists heading to the Olympics in Paris, tens of thousands are trying to leave Paris by train headed to Brittany and the south for the start of their long summer holidays.
French rail authorities say they will provide an update on the situation at 16:30 BST.
Several unions for French rail workers have released a joint statement condemning the attack on the high speed rail network, describing it as a “blow to the SNCF public service”.
The CGT Cheminots, UNSA-Ferroviaire, Sud-Rail and CFDT Cheminots unions offer their support to the railway workers who have been mobilized to restore the rail traffic, the statement says, as well as workers who are on duty in stations and on trains to provide customer support.
In the UK, the Department for Transport says it is “in close contact” with Eurostar and French authorities regarding the ongoing disruption.
It is advising anyone planning on travelling today to check ahead before leaving and to follow advice from the Foreign Office and Eurostar.
France’s sports minister says the disruption has left her feeling “dismayed”.
Amelie Oudea-Castera says while she had anticipated such incidents, its “very bad news” and has “generated for us a mix of anger and frustration”.
“I have to say I’m really dismayed by what’s happening,” she says. “People doing such things are really playing against the side of France.”
She adds that officials are currently evaluating the impact of the incident.
As we’ve reported, the train disruption happened just hours ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics. (Int’l News Desk)
