French train operator SNCF on Friday said that the country’s high-speed network had been targeted with widespread and "criminal" acts, disrupting travel for hundreds of thousands of people just hours before the grand opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Paris prosecutor has opened a probe into a suspected bid to undermine "fundamental national interests".
France's high-speed rail network was hit by "malicious acts" including arson attacks that have disrupted the transport system, train operator SNCF said Friday, hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.
"This is a massive attack on a large scale to paralyse the TGV network," SNCF told AFP, adding that many routes would have to be cancelled.
"SNCF was the victim of several simultaneous malicious acts overnight," the national train operator said, later adding that vandals had damaged signal boxes along the lines connecting Paris with cities such as Lille in the north, Bordeaux in the west and Strasbourg in the east. Another attack on the Paris-Marseille line was foiled.
"Arson attacks were started to damage our facilities," it said, and explained that traffic on the affected lines was "heavily disrupted" with many cancellations, and that the situation would last through the weekend as repairs are conducted.
Two security sources said the modus operandi meant initial suspicions fell on leftist militants or environmental activists, but they said there was not yet any evidence.
French officials described the attacks on France's high-speed rail network as “criminal actions" and said they were investigating whether they were linked to the Olympic Games.
The disruptions as the world's eye was turning to Paris were expected to affect a quarter of a million people on Friday and endure through the weekend, and possibly longer, officials said.
'Our intelligence services are mobilised'
French security forces are hunting the people behind Friday's attacks that hobbled the country's high-speed rail network, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said.
"Our intelligence services and law enforcement are mobilised to find and punish the perpetrators of these criminal acts," Attal posted on X, calling the attacks "prepared and coordinated acts of sabotage against (rail operator) SNCF's installations" with "huge and serious consequences for the rail network".
But Attal declined to speculate when asked in a TV interview about the possibility of leftist militants or environmental activists being behind the sabotage.
The Paris prosecutor opened a probe into a suspected bid to undermine "fundamental national interests", saying that the crime carries up to 20 years in prison.
The investigation will also probe suspected damage inflicted by an organised gang and attacks on an automated data processing system, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement.
SNCF urged passengers to postpone their trips and stay away from train stations.
Eurostar also said its rail services between London and Paris had been disrupted by the acts of vandalism, resulting in several cancellations and longer journey times.
“Due to acts of vandalism affecting the high-speed line between Paris and Lille, all high-speed trains to and from Paris are being diverted via the classic line," Eurostar said in a statement on X. "Some trains have been cancelled, others are delayed."
Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete said in a post on X that he “firmly condemns these criminal incidents", and that SNCF is working to restore traffic.
Paris police chief Laurent Nunez, speaking on France Info radio, said he would send police reinforcements to overcrowded train stations in relation to the SNCF incidents.
Olympics under heavy security
The attacks were launched as Paris was under heavy security ahead of the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics, with 300,000 spectators and an audience of VIPs expected at the event.
The parade on Friday evening will see up to 7,500 competitors travel down a six-kilometre (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.
Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castera said authorities are working to “evaluate the impact on travelers, athletes, and ensure the transport of all delegations to the competition sites” for the Olympics. Speaking on BFM television, she said, “Playing against the Games is playing against France, against your own camp, against your country.” She didn't identify who was behind the vandalism.
Some teams like the US basketball team are based in Paris and would have traveled on Saturday by train to the northern city of Lille.
At Paris's Montparnasse train station, dozens of passengers were waiting for more information about their trips after delays of 30 minutes to almost two hours were announced.
"Normal traffic is expected to resume on Monday, July 29," read one of the signs in the departure hall.
"We arrived around 7am but we were told that we might not be able to leave before Monday," said 27-year-old student Jocelyn, who had planned to travel to Bretagne and refused to give her full name.
"We expected it to be a bit chaotic in Paris with the opening ceremony scheduled for this evening, but we didn't think it could be this bad," she said.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters, AP, AFP)
