Arson attacks scrambled France’s high-speed rail network for tens of thousands of passengers on Friday, after what officials called premeditated acts of “sabotage” just hours before the Paris Olympics opened.
Friday’s attacks were launched as the French capital was under heavy security ahead of the Games opening ceremony, with 300,000 spectators and an audience of VIPs expected at the event.
The fires that affected France’s Atlantic, northern and eastern lines led to cancellations and delays at a time of particularly heavy traffic for summer holiday travel.
Around 800,000 passengers are expected to be affected over the weekend as the damage is heavy and labor-intensive to repair.
“Early this morning, coordinated and prepared acts of sabotage were perpetrated against installations of SNCF,” the national rail operator, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said.
“There are huge and serious consequences for the rail network,” he added, while security services are hunting the culprits.
SNCF chief executive Jean-Pierre Farandou said that the attackers had started fires in “conduits carrying multiple (fiber-optic) cables” that carry “safety information for drivers” or control the motors for points.
“There’s a huge number of bundled cables. We have to repair them one by one, it’s a manual operation” requiring” hundreds of workers,” he added.
Passenger services chief Christophe Fanichet said there were delays of 90 minutes to two hours on services between Paris and France’s north and east.
Strict Security
France’s intelligence services were scrambling to determine the perpetrators of the sabotage, a security source told AFP.
The source added that the arson method used resembled past attacks by extreme-left actors.
In September, arson attacks on conduits holding railway cables caused travel chaos in northern Germany, with a claim of responsibility posted to an extreme-left website.
The attacks happened hours before the Olympics parade on Friday evening that will see up to 7,500 competitors travel down a six-kilometer (four-mile) stretch of the river Seine on a flotilla of 85 boats.
It will be the first time a Summer Olympics has opened outside the main athletics stadium, a decision fraught with danger at a time when France is on its highest alert for terror attacks. (AFP)
