France’s high-speed train lines were targeted by multiple “malicious” acts including arson on Friday, in what has been described as “coordinated sabotage” to disrupt travel ahead of the Opening Ceremony of the Paris Olympics.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!France’s state railways company SNCF called the overnight disruption a “massive attack aimed at paralyzing the high-speed line network.”
In a post on X, SNCF said “a large number of trains were diverted or canceled,” and asked “all travelers who can to postpone their trip and not go to the station.”
The railway operator said the disruption hit Atlantic, Northern and Eastern high-speed lines, with damage caused to several of its facilities. SNCF said one of the acts was “foiled.”
Travel on these lines is “severely disrupted,” with the railway network having to reroute and cancel many trains, according to SNCF. The disruptions, which could affect approximately 800,000 passengers, are expected to continue throughout the weekend as repair work is underway.
Passengers milled around outside Paris’ Gare du Nord train station and sat with their luggage on staircases as the disruption laid waste to their travel plans. “People are a little exasperated,” Raphaël, a SNCF user who has been waiting for his train at Montparnasse Station in Paris since 6 a.m. local time.
Passengers gather around the departure boards at the Gare Montparnasse train station in Paris.
The Rémi Train Centre Val de Loire said travel on its railway lines would be disrupted until at least Monday, with a fire near the tracks in Courtalain, northern France impacting services to Paris.
Eurostar, the high-speed train service that connects the United Kingdom with France, has been forced to cancel and divert trains due to the “coordinated acts of malice,” on French lines.
Eurostar said that the incidents have impacted travel between Paris and Lille, forcing the train network to divert journeys and extend travel times.
“Due to coordinated acts of sabotage in France impacting the high-speed line between Paris and Lille, all high-speed trains traveling to and from Paris will be rerouted via the classic line on Friday, July 26. This will extend journey times by approximately an hour and a half, and several trains have been canceled,” the statement explained.
The reports come just hours before the Olympic torch relay concludes and the Opening Ceremony begins, with more than 320,000 spectators expected to attend along the River Seine.
Meanwhile, the Paris 2024 Olympic Committee canceled its pre-opening ceremony press conference amid the incident.
Passengers at the Gare Montparnasse in Paris on Friday.
The French Minister of Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Amélie Oudéa-Castera said the disruption to the train lines are “a sort of coordinated sabotage.”
Oudéa-Castera condemned the attacks in the “strongest possible terms,” and said it is “truly appalling.”
“Playing against the Games is playing against France, against your camp, against your country,” she said.
Oudéa-Castera said the incidents will disrupt travel on Friday and the weekend.
“We will assess the impacts on travelers, athletes, and ensure the proper transport of all delegations to the competition sites,” she said.
Other French officials echoed her description of the attacks being intentional. Outgoing French transport minister Patrice Vergriete and Valerie Pecresse, head of the Île-de-France region, in which Paris lies, said on Friday that “all elements” pointed towards it being a “deliberate attack.” Vergriete added those elements were “the coincidental timing, the vans found after the people had fled (and) the arson materials found on location.”
In response to the attacks, Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said Friday that police are stepping up security and focusing manpower on the capital’s train stations.
Security in Paris had already been bolstered in recent weeks.
France plans to deploy around 35,000 police each day during the Games, peaking at 45,000 for the Opening Ceremony, a spokesperson at the French interior ministry said. In addition, 10,000 soldiers will be deployed in the Paris region – an effort supported by 1,800 police officers from around the world, they added.
Nicolas Nordman, Deputy Paris Mayor in charge of security, said that authorities had been working for months to try to anticipate what might happen and were confident the ceremony would be safe.
The cause of the disruptions is currently unclear. But there has been growing domestic unrest, powered in part by recent national elections that saw a battle between the left and far-right.
Interior Minister Darmanin confirmed security forces had detained a “member of the extreme-right” this week who was “suspected of wanting to commit violent action during the Olympic Games.” According to Darmanin, the man had an “intention to intervene during a phase of the torch relay.
