“The consequences on the rail network are massive and serious,” he added in a post on X, adding that “our intelligence services and law enforcement are mobilized to find and punish the perpetrators of these criminal acts.”
France’s state-owned, national rail service SNCF said Friday several “malicious acts” targeted three of its high-speed train lines. In an email to The Washington Post, it said it was the “victim of a massive attack to paralyze high-speed lines.”
Fires were set “to damage our facilities,” SNCF said, also noting that some disruptions are expected to last through the weekend until Monday.
Some 250,000 travellers were expected to travel today, SNCF said, and 800,000 during the weekend.
The Eurostar trains, one of the principal transport lines from the United Kingdom to the European continent, also announced delays “due to a problem with the overhead power supply in France” and listed trains arriving in France an hour later than scheduled. It advised travelers to postpone their trips.
SNCF said its Atlantic, northern and eastern high-speed lines were affected and advised customers to postpone travel. SNCF that it also prevented another “malicious act” targeting the Southeast line.
Officials said they were assessing the impact on travelers and athletes set to compete.
Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete strongly condemned what he called the “coordinated” acts. He told BFM TV that an investigation is underway but said the coordinated timing of the incidents suggested the fires were “criminal” in nature.
“At this stage, it probably one or several acts of vandalism, a kind of coordinated sabotage,” French Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra told Le Parisien. “We will evaluate the impact for today, for travelers, the impact for the athletes and for this weekend.”
The SNCF said its teams were “on site” to establish the problem and begin repairs, noting “some trains are diverted, a large number of trains are canceled.”
A Paris 2024 spokesperson said in an email that it had “taken note” of the incidents, adding: “We are working closely with our partner, the rail operator SNCF, to assess the situation.”
Attal thanked “firefighters who intervened on the affected sites” and “the SNCF agents who will carry out the necessary work to restore the network” — and impacted travellers for “their patience, their understanding and the civic-mindedness they demonstrate.”
Valérie Pécresse, the president of the regional council of the Île-de-France region, called the incidents “coordinated sabotage” and “an attempt to destabilize just as we launch the Olympic Games.”
“We ask travelers from the Ile-de-France region who have to take a TGV [high-speed train] not to go to the station and to wait for personalized information, which will be sent by SMS,” she said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Speaking to BFM TV, Pécresse said the incidents are “not a coincidence” but rather a “massive and coordinated attack.”
Paris was just supposed to be a quick layover on a long journey from Coco Zurita’s hometown in Chile to Amsterdam, where he was headed to visit friends on Friday.
But after he collected his bags at Paris’s Charles de Gaule international airport on Friday morning, he learned that his train to the Netherlands was canceled because of the overnight disruptions to rail lines.
Two trains along that route had been canceled, and there was a “massive line” in front of the customer service counter at the airport of passengers hoping for spots on a third, functioning train. Someone told Zurita he might have better luck if he headed to Gare du Nord instead.
So the 40-year-old made his way into the city and bought a ticket here, for a train that was slightly delayed but still scheduled to run mid-morning. He was tired after 24 hours of travel and the delay added to the journey, Zurita said, “but it was kind of nice to come to this station” and see a bit of Paris.
Claire Parker contributed to this report.
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