France’s high-speed train lines were targeted by multiple “malicious” acts including arson on Friday, in what has been described as “coordinated sabotage” to disrupt travel ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, reports CNN.
France’s state railways company SNCF called the overnight disruption a “massive attack aimed at paralyzing the high-speed line network.”
In a post on X, SNCF said “a large number of trains were diverted or canceled,” and asked “all travelers who can to postpone their trip and not go to the station.”
The railway operator said the disruption hit Atlantic, Northern and Eastern high-speed lines, with damage caused to several of its facilities. SNCF said one of the acts was “foiled.”
Travel on these lines is “very disrupted,” with the railway network needing to divert and cancel a large number of trains, SNCF said. Disruptions - which it estimates could impact around 800,000 travelers - were expected throughout the weekend as work crews oversee repairs, it added.
The Rémi Train Centre Val de Loire said travel on its railway lines would be disrupted until at least Monday, with a fire near the tracks in Courtalain, northern France impacting services to Paris.
Eurostar, the high-speed train service that connects the United Kingdom with France, has been forced to cancel and divert trains due to the “coordinated acts of malice,” on French lines.