About 800,000 passengers affected by sabotage on TGV lines in France

Several trains connecting Paris with London were cancelled on Friday due to sabotage on the TGV high-speed rail network, causing major disruption across the French rail network, Eurostar said.

In addition to the cancelled trains, “all high-speed trains to and from Paris this Friday will be diverted to the normal line” and will therefore run at reduced speed, Eurostar said on its official portal, adding that the situation “will affect approximately one and a half hour journeys.”

Services between Paris and Brussels were also affected by disruption caused by sabotage, Eurostar told AFP.

Eurostar staff are “fully mobilised at stations, in call centres and on board” trains to keep passengers well “informed”, the company said, adding that customers can also cancel or change their ticket free of charge.

The French rail network was sabotaged overnight between Thursday and Friday, affecting some 800,000 travellers, just hours before the opening of the Paris Olympic Games, French rail company SNCF said on Friday.

SNCF was “the victim last night (Thursday) of several simultaneous malicious actions that affected the LGV (high-speed lines) of the Atlantic, North and East,” the rail group said in a press release.

The note said the “arson” was intended to damage objects.

As a result, TGV trains on these three axes experience “numerous disturbances” in their movement.

“We are transferring some trains to normal lines, but we will have to eliminate a large number of them,” SNCF said. However, the south-eastern TGV line “is not affected,” the company said.

SNCF Réseau crews “are already on site to carry out diagnostics and begin repairs,” but “the situation is expected to last at least the entire weekend while repairs are carried out,” the French rail company said.

The sabotage will affect 800 thousand travelers, SNCF CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou emphasized at a press conference.

The attack comes just hours before the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris and several summer events taking place in the French capital, as well as the holidays of many travelers.

Condemning the “scandalous criminal act”, French Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete “strongly condemned these criminal acts which will jeopardise the holidays of many French people Patrice Vergriete”.

After a source close to the investigation spoke of “sabotage,” a security source said all French intelligence services had been mobilized.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach said Friday that he has “full confidence in the French authorities” following the sabotage of the SNCF rail network.

“No, I have no concerns,” an IOC spokesman responded to a question from the press about the attack on SNCF while watching the torch relay in the Olympic village of Saint-Denis.

“We have complete confidence in the French authorities. All measures have been taken, and the French authorities are being assisted by 180 other intelligence agencies around the world,” added Thomas Bach.