A few hours before the opening of the Olympic Games in Paris, unknown persons damaged equipment on the French high-speed train network. According to railway operator SNCF, the disruption is expected to last the entire weekend.
The day of the big show did not start well. The Olympic Games opened in Paris on Friday evening – around 300,000 spectators were expected on the banks of the Seine. But some of them apparently had to forego participation.
During the night of Friday, the French railway’s high-speed network was deliberately damaged in several places. According to the state railway company SNCF, unknown persons had set fires in several places in the west, north and east of the country. According to the news channel Franceinfo, fires broke out in four places between 1 a.m. and 5:30 a.m., and a fifth act of sabotage was prevented.
The SNCF spoke of a massive attack that was intended to paralyze the network. Transporters and flammable material were found abandoned near some of the crime scenes, said SNCF boss Jean-Pierre Farandou in a press conference. The fire sites were also located at forks in the road, i.e. at neuralgic points.
The company called on its customers to postpone trips and not even come to the train stations. It is expected that the disruption will take at least this weekend to be resolved. According to SNCF estimates, the travel plans of around 800,000 people could be disrupted over these days. The routes from Paris to Lille and Strasbourg are particularly affected, as are the connections from the capital to Brittany and towards Bordeaux.
Trains can run on most routes, but far fewer than during normal operations. In some cases, detours must also be accepted. The Paris-London route is also affected. The Eurostar company announced that the trains would be diverted and that a longer journey time could be expected. According to a statement from the SBB, the direct connections to Switzerland are not affected by the disruption. However, some trains were cancelled on Friday.
There is currently no information about the background and perpetrators of the arson attacks. The Paris public prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation. On Friday, security at Paris train stations was increased once again. According to several media reports, a similar attack was foiled in May on the TGV line between Marseille and Aix-en-Provence in the south of the country.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal spoke of “coordinated acts of sabotage.” “Our intelligence services and law enforcement are mobilized to find and punish the perpetrators of these criminal acts,” Attal wrote on Twitter. He was thinking of all the French people who were preparing for their holidays: “I share their anger and applaud their patience, understanding and civic spirit that they are showing.”
Sports Minister Amelie Oudéa-Castera told broadcaster BFM that targeting the Olympic Games meant targeting France.
The opening ceremony, which will mark the official start of the Olympic Games on Friday evening, has been causing nervousness in Paris for weeks. It is the first to take place outside a stadium. Thousands of athletes and artists will parade on boats on the Seine over a length of six kilometers.
Many celebrities and around 120 heads of state and government are expected among the spectators. The event will be secured by around 45,000 security personnel and thousands of soldiers. The airspace within a radius of 150 kilometers around Paris will be closed for the evening. IOC President Thomas Bach was not worried by the act of sabotage. “We have complete confidence in the French authorities,” said the President of the International Olympic Committee on Friday. All necessary security measures have been taken.