France’s train network sabotaged in arson attack ahead of opening ceremony
By Rob Harris
Paris: France has suspended high-speed rail services across much of the country in what has been described as “coordinated sabotage” attacks just hours before the Olympic Games opening ceremony.
The coordinated arson attacks on Thursday night will alarm organisers of the Paris Games as they prepare to host hundreds of thousands of spectators in the capital for the official start of the event, where thousands of athletes are set to sail through the heart of the city in boats.
Travellers face delays at the Gare de Montparnasse station in Paris.Credit: AP
A flotilla will carry more than 10,000 athletes along the River Seine in a route dotted with the city’s major landmarks, in front of 300,000 spectators and an audience of VIPs and celebrities.
French officials and security agencies have previously warned that Russia or political activists could seek to sabotage the Games, and have also been bracing for terror attacks.
SNCF, the train operator, said that the attacks were designed to “paralyse” the network and that there would be widespread disruption all weekend. “This is a massive attack on a large scale to paralyse the TGV network,” SNCF told the news agency Agence France-Presse.
Eurostar, the high-speed train service that connects the United Kingdom with France, has been forced to cancel and divert trains due to the “co-ordinated acts of malice,” on French lines.
The company said that 800,000 customers had been affected on services across the west, north and east of France. SNCF also said one of the acts was “foiled.”
International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach told media assembled at the athletes village on Friday he was not concerned by the developments.
“We have full confidence in the French authorities,” he said.
A spokesman for the Australian Olympic Committee said the team had not been affected by rail issues at this stage.
“Tomorrow we have three athletics officials arriving by train without any issue expected,” he said, adding around 68 people were expected to arrive as part of the wider athletics contingent by train from Montpellier on Monday.
Central Paris is already in a state of virtual lockdown ahead of the opening ceremony, with passes required to cross police cordons anywhere within a few hundred yards of the Seine and Olympic sites.
Some 45,000 police are already patrolling Paris and Laurent Nunez, the city’s police chief, said additional police were being sent to train stations. Valerie Pecresse, who heads the Ile-de-France region that is responsible for transport, said it was a “massive and co-ordinated attack” that had affected equipment that supplies electricity to the trains.
She added that SNCF staffers had managed to chase off the arsonists. The disruptions hit several big lines out of Paris, including the connection to the northern city of Lille where football and basketball games will be held throughout the Games.
Travellers wait as police officers patrol inside the Gare du Nord train stationCredit: AP
National police said authorities are investigating what happened. French media reported a big fire on a busy western route.
Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete said in a post on X that he “firmly condemns these criminal incidents,” and that SNCF is working to restore traffic.
Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castera said authorities are working to “evaluate the impact on travellers, athletes, and ensure the transport of all delegations to the competition sites” for the Olympics. Speaking on BFM television, she said, “Playing against the Games is playing against France, against your own camp, against your country.” She didn’t identify who was behind the vandalism.
Passengers at St Pancras station in London were warned to expect delays of around an hour to their Eurostar journeys. Announcements in the departure hall at the international terminus informed travellers heading to Paris that there was a problem with overhead power supplies.
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