Disruption in French rail lines will probably continue for another 3 days!
According to France 24, following what has been called coordinated vandalism on the French railway lines at the same time as the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics in Paris, the French railway authorities have announced the continuation of the disruption in the rail network and the wandering of thousands of people as a result of this disruption.
France’s national railway company described the vandalism as a “massive attack”. French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal also pointed out that this attack was “premeditated and coordinated acts of sabotage”, and wrote on X channel: “Our intelligence services and judicial institutions have been mobilized to find and punish the perpetrators of these criminal acts.”
No person or group has yet claimed responsibility for starting the fire in the French high-speed railway facilities. Following the vandalism, rail services from Paris to large parts of France were canceled or delayed. Eurostar announced that it has canceled about a quarter of its trains between London, Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam. According to this company’s forecast, about one-fifth of the trains will be canceled today and tomorrow, and all services will be delayed.
Keir Starmer, the new Prime Minister of England, had to use a plane instead of a high-speed train to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympics. France’s national railway company announced that around a quarter of trains on the routes targeted by the vandalism will be canceled today and tomorrow as one of France’s busiest weekends coincides with the start of the Olympic Games. Also, active trains will face delays.
According to estimates, about 250,000 passengers were affected by the disruption in the rail network yesterday. The Minister of Transport of France has said that about 800 thousand people may be affected by this disruption in the next three days.
According to Jean-Pierre Farandeau, the executive director of the French National Railway Company, the perpetrators of this attack at every point targeted the optical fiber cables that carry safety information for locomotives and notify rail changes.
“Gerard de Croissy,” the mayor of northern France, said that at one of the critical points, vandals with special equipment gained access to the cables and then threw flammable liquids at them.
Paris’ prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation file about these attacks. Last year, Germany and the east of France were targeted by similar attacks.