Danger: Over 800 thousand travellers to be affected in France as rail line experience organised massive sabotage
Danger as Over 800 thousand travellers to be affected in France as rail line experience organised massive sabotage in Paris just few hours to the Olympics opening ceremony.
France’s high-speed train lines were targeted by multiple “malicious” acts including arson on Friday July 26, i2024 in what has been described as “an attack on France” and “coordinated sabotage” to disrupt travel ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.
According to the CNN, the French state railway company SNCF said in a post on X that “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 operator said the Atlantic, Northern and Eastern high-speed lines were impacted, with damage caused to several of its facilities, adding that one of the acts was “foiled” in the east after SNCF agents scared off several individuals.
SNCF CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou told journalists on Friday that cables – which are there to ensure the security of train drivers – were set on fire and taken apart but that authorities “don’t know who is behind it.”
An intelligence source told CNN that French intelligence services are “fully mobilized” to find those responsible. The source added that “these methods have been used by the far-left in the past” but “there is no evidence to tie today’s actions to them.”
The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into the attack and detailed four separate charges, relating to the damage of state property and taking part in organized crime. Some of the crimes listed are punishable by up to 20 years’ imprisonment and a fine of €300,000 ($325,000).
‘We didn’t need a day like this’
Travel on the affected lines is “very disrupted,” with the railway network needing to divert and cancel a large number of trains, SNCF said. Disruptions – which it estimates could impact around 250,000 travelers today – were expected throughout the weekend, affecting 800,000 passengers, as work crews oversee repairs, it added.
