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PARIS — France’s high-speed rail network was hit Friday with widespread and “criminal” acts of vandalism including arson attacks, paralyzing travel to Paris from across the rest of France and Europe only hours before the grand opening ceremony of the Olympics.
Outgoing French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said sabotage and arson that hit key parts of France’s rail network on the eve of the Olympics had “a clear objective: blocking the high-speed train network.”
He said the vandals strategically targeted the main routes from the north, east and west toward Paris, hours before the city hosts the Olympics opening ceremony.
Speaking to reporters Attal said there will be “massive consequences,” with “hundreds of thousands” of people stuck while trying to visit Paris for the Games or vacations.
Eurostar says one in four trains through the weekend will be canceled.
The rail network said all high-speed trains are being diverted, adding 90 minutes to each journey.
“Eurostar expects this situation will last until Monday morning,’’ it said in a statement.
BFM television footage showed more than a dozen workers from rail company SNCF in orange uniforms examining damage to cut and burned cables along the train tracks in Croisilles, a village in northern France where one of the sabotage incidents occurred.
A half dozen police officers, some carrying yellow evidence markers, were at the crime scene.
Germany’s national railway operator, Deutsche Bahn, said there were short-notice cancellations and delays of trains between France and Germany as a result of the damage.
In Berlin, government spokesperson Christiane Hoffmann said that “the German government condemns these acts in the strongest terms.”
Eurostar passengers leaving from London seemed relaxed about delays on the French rail network.
Kate Fisher, 37, a teacher from Louisiana, was traveling with five friends in hopes of getting to Paris to soak in the atmosphere.
“We knew this is absolutely the worst time to go to Paris because of the Olympics, so we’re prepared for it to take longer,’’ she said.
In Brussels, Eurostar said that all high-speed trains going to and coming from Paris are being diverted via the standard line.
“This extends the journey time by around an hour and a half,” the company said.
When a train to Paris was announced, many travelers whose journey had been canceled or delayed took the option to board without a valid ticket. The train controller warned them they would have to stand at the bar for the whole journey. Once inside, the train barista handed over free bottles of water.
The Paris prosecutor’s office has initiated an investigation, saying it had “jurisdiction over crimes involving the deterioration of property that threaten the fundamental interests of the nation.”
This crime, it added, carried a potential 15-year prison sentence and fines of 225,000 euros.
Further, it said crimes involving “degradation and attempted degradation by dangerous means in an organized group” can carry a 20-year prison sentence and fines of 150,000 euros.
Two German athletes in showjumping were on a train to Paris to take part in the opening ceremony but had to turn back in Belgium because of lengthy delays. They will now miss the ceremony, German news agency dpa reported.
“It’s a real shame but we would have arrived too late,” rider Philipp Weishaupt, who was traveling with teammate Christian Kukuk, told dpa. “There was no longer a chance of making it on time.”
The Montparnasse 2 station was packed with passengers affected by delayed or canceled trains, including some who spent hours stuck on the tracks because of the disruptions.
Maiwenn Labbé-Sorin said she waited hours on the train before it returned to Paris. There was no news on when she would be able to continue her trip.
“We stayed two hours without water, without toilets, without electricity,” she said. “Then we could go out on the track for a bit and then the train returned. Now I’m not sure what’s going to happen.”
Travelers at Gare du Nord train station looked up at departure boards for Eurostar trains to London showing delays of up to an hour and a half.
“It’s a hell of a way to start the Olympics,” said Sarah Moseley, 42, as she learned that her train to London was an hour late.
“They should have more information for tourists, especially if it’s a malicious attack,” said Corey Grainger, a 37-year-old Australian sales manager on his way to London, as he rested on his two suitcases in the middle of the station.
In Bordeaux in southwest France, those who couldn’t find a seat in the Gare de Bordeaux Saint-Jean sat on luggage and clothing on the floor and looked at their phones while others curled up and slept on benches.
“Our intelligence services and our law enforcement agencies are mobilized to find and punish the perpetrators of these criminal acts,” French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said in a post on X.
Attal characterized them as “acts of sabotage” which were “prepared and coordinated.”
Jean-Pierre Farandou, CEO of rail company SNCF, said on French TV network BFMTV that the acts showed “a desire to seriously harm” the French, and their nature implied “a premeditated, calculated, coordinated attack.”
Farandou said that the locations targeted were rail track intersections.
“For one fire, two destinations were hit,” he said on BFMTV.
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 travelers heading to Paris that there was a problem with overhead power supplies.
French rail company SNCF said it did not know when traffic would resume and feared that disruptions would continue “at least all weekend.” SNCF teams “were already on site to carry out diagnostics and begin repairs,” but the “situation should last at least all weekend while the repairs are carried out,” the operator said. SNCF advised “all passengers to postpone their journey and not to go to the station,” specifying in its press release that all tickets were exchangeable and refundable.
Valerie Pecresse, president of the regional council of the greater Paris region said “250,000 travelers will be affected today on all these lines.” Substitution plans were underway, but Pecresse advised travelers “not to go to stations.”
As Paris authorities geared up for a parade along the Seine River amid tightened security, three fires were reported near the tracks on the high-speed lines of Atlantique, Nord and Est. The disruptions particularly affected Paris’ major Montparnasse station. Videos posted on social networks showed the hall of the station saturated with travelers.
The incidents paralyzed several high-speed lines linking Paris to the rest of France and to neighboring countries, according to Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete.
Speaking on BFM television, Vergriete described people fleeing from the scene of fires and the discovery of incendiary devices at the site. “Everything indicates that these are criminal fires,” he said.
Travel to and from London beneath the English Channel, to neighboring Belgium, and across the west, north, and east of France was affected by what the French national rail company SNCF called a series of coordinated overnight incidents.
Government officials denounced the acts, though they said there was no immediate sign of a direct link to the Olympics. National police said authorities were investigating the incidents. French media reported a major fire on a busy western route.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games