- Arson attacks disrupt France high-speed trains
- Eurostar cancels one-fifth of weekend services
- Prime Minister Attal vows to find saboteurs
Three of ten French high-speed trains will be canceled on Saturday following a series of “coordinated” arson attacks.
The national rail firm SNCF said that services that do run will be delayed by up to two hours on three major lines that run into and out of Paris.
Eurostar customers will also suffer continued disruption on Saturday, with a fifth of international trains canceled during the Olympic Games opening weekend.
Following Friday’s paralysis of train networks, French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal stated that security services were looking for the “saboteurs” involved.
According to SNCF, no one has yet claimed responsibility for the damage.
The “strategic” vandalism involved setting fire to cabling boxes at intersections on the North, Brittany, and South-West lines hours before the Olympics’ opening ceremony began in the capital.
According to government officials, saboteurs cut and set fire to specific fiber optic cables required for the rail network’s safe operation.
According to someone close to the investigation, the operation was “well-prepared” and organized by “a single structure.”
Rail workers stopped an effort to dismantle safety devices on a fourth line.
“At this stage, traffic will remain disrupted on the North axis on Sunday and should improve on the Atlantic axis for weekend returns,” a train network spokeswoman said on Saturday morning.
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SNCF reported that approximately 250,000 passengers were affected on Friday, while junior transport minister Patrice Vergriete predicted that up to 800,000 might be affected over three days.
Eurostar, which offers international services from London to Paris and uses a high-speed network in France, warned one in every four trains would not run over the weekend.
Travelers have been warned to postpone their journeys, with the inconvenience expected to persist until Monday.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was among the Eurostar customers affected on Friday, who had planned to travel to the Games opening ceremony by train but were forced to fly instead.
