French high-speed rail network crippled by massive ‘sabotage’ (VIDEOS)
High-speed train traffic in France was disrupted on Friday, just hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics following a series of “malicious acts” including arson and cable theft, according to the country’s state railway operator SNCF.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the company said at least three TGV lines had been damaged, including the Atlantic, Northern and Eastern routes. A group of saboteurs set fires and stole cables at the Courtalain, Pagny-sur-Moselle, and Croisilles junctions of the high-speed network. Another attack was foiled in Verginy on the South-Eastern line.
The operator said “a large number of trains are being diverted or canceled,” while the company’s CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou estimated that at least 800,000 travelers would be affected by the disruption. In a statement, SNCF asked all travelers who can postpone their trips to do so or use the classic (non-high-speed) lines until TGV traffic is restored. Repairs have already started, but are expected to continue until at least Monday.
“It’s big. There are hundreds of wires to reconnect one by one, which control safety devices. Then we have to test. It’s a goldsmith’s work,” Matthieu Chabanel, head of maintenance at the SNCF, told Le Figaro.
Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete said the attacks were deliberate, as “everything was done at the same time” with the perpetrators’ “vans” found on sites. So far, however, nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack, and no arrests have been made.
The attacks were condemned by the French authorities, who said they were aimed at destabilizing France, especially as they had coincided with the start of the Paris Olympics.
“Through the SNCF, it’s a piece of France that they’re attacking,” Farandou stated, branding the perpetrators as a “gang of crazy, irresponsible people, who thought it was smart to prevent us from doing our job.”
Vergriete wrote on X that he “firmly condemns these criminal actions which will compromise the departures on holiday of many French people.” On BFMTV, Minister for Sports Amelie Oudea-Castera described the attacks as “acts of sabotage.”
“It is truly appalling. It is playing against the [Olympic] Games, playing against France,” she stated.
Acting French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said the intelligence services and law enforcement had been “mobilized” to probe the attacks and find the perpetrators.
