Trains across France halted by coordinated arson attacks ahead of Olympics opening
France’s state-owned rail company SNCF says a 'massive attack' aimed at paralysing the high-speed network is causing delays and cancellations.
A series of coordinated arson attacks on the train infrastructure of France's largest rail company, SNCF, caused a significant number of trains to be re-routed or cancelled on Friday morning.
The attack disrupted the transport system on the opening day of the 2024 Paris Olympics, with delays of up to two hours, if not outright cancellations, affecting tens of thousands of passengers.
"250,000 travellers were expected to travel today and 800,000 during this weekend," SNCF told Euronews in an emailed statement Friday.
"SNCF is deploying its clients help service in major stations," it said, adding that teams are working to carry out repairs and that customers will be informed about train traffic via SMS.
Lines across the country have been affected, particularly those connecting cities to the capital: traffic between Paris and Lille in northern France has been suspended, as has traffic from Tours and Le Mans to the southwest of the capital.
Routes in the southeast have largely been unaffected, as an attack in the region has already been "foiled", SNCF said. As such, trains to the likes of Lyon and the Alps region are running as normal.