France’s transport minister on Monday assured that “all trains” on the French high-speed network were operating normally after the sabotage that occurred on the day of the Olympic opening ceremony.
“I can confirm that all trains are running this morning, both on the eastern axis (that’s what’s been happening since Saturday) and on the Atlantic corridor. Yesterday. [domingo] We already had an almost normal situation, and in Nord, where yesterday there were three trains out of four, today they are all working normally,” said Patrice Vergriete.
State rail company SNCF announced on Sunday that repair work was “completely completed” and that “there will be no further disruption to passengers from Monday morning.”
On the night from Thursday to Friday, at 04:00, at several strategic points, fiber optic cables running along the roads and providing safety information to drivers (red lights, switches, etc.) were cut and set on fire.
The sabotage took place in Courtenay (LGV Atlantique), Croisilles (LGV Nord) and Pagny-sur-Moselle (LGV Est).
The situation caused chaos at French train stations on Friday, amid the rush of people leaving and returning from summer holidays, just hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games staged on the Seine.
It is estimated that around 800,000 people will have to travel by train over the weekend.
Patrice Vergriete noted that about 700,000 people still managed to make the trip, while 100,000 had their trips cancelled.
SNCF has promised to compensate the affected passengers.
Following the attack, “significant measures” were put in place to “increase” surveillance of “28,000 kilometres of the high-speed train network”, with “one thousand SNCF maintenance agents” and “250 rail security agents” from SNCF mobilised “until further notice”, as well as “50 drones” and helicopter overflights, the French transport minister described.
The cost of this sabotage “most likely” will amount to millions of euros, between “commercial losses” and “repair costs,” the minister calculated.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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