Arson attacks paralyse French high-speed rail network hours before Olympics

High-speed rail services to Paris have been severely disrupted by what officials described as “criminal actions” and sabotage, hours before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.

The incidents paralysed several high-speed lines linking the French capital to the rest of France and to neighbouring countries, according to transport minister Patrice Vergriete.

Speaking on BFM television, he described people fleeing from the scene of fires and the discovery of incendiary devices, adding: “Everything indicates that these are criminal fires.”

As Paris authorities geared up for a parade along the Seine River amid tightened security for Paris 2024, three fires were reported near the tracks on the high-speed lines of Atlantique, Nord and Est.

The disruption particularly affected Paris’s major Montparnasse station. Videos posted on social networks showed the hall of the station saturated with passengers.

The Paris police prefecture “concentrated its personnel in Parisian train stations” after the “massive attack” that paralysed the TGV high-speed network, Laurent Nunez, the city police chief, told France Info television.

Travel to and from London beneath the English Channel, to neighbouring Belgium, and across the west, north, and east of France was affected by what the national rail company SNCF called a series of co-ordinated overnight incidents.

SNCF said areas affecting rail track intersections were intentionally targeted by the arsonists to double the impact.

“For one fire, two destinations were hit,” said chief executive Jean-Pierre Farandou.

It was “a premeditated, calculated, co-ordinated attack” that indicates “a desire to seriously harm” the French people, he added.

Government officials denounced the acts, though they said there was no immediate sign of a direct link to the Olympics.

The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation, being led by the National Jurisdiction for the Fight against Organised Crime.

Crimes involving “the deterioration of property that threaten the fundamental interests of the nation” can draw a potential 15-year sentence and fines of 225,000 euros (£190,000).

“Degradation and attempted degradation by dangerous means in an organised group” can carry a 20-year sentence and fines of 150,000 euros (£126,000).

National police said authorities were investigating the incidents.

Sports minister Amelie Oudea-Castera said authorities were working to “evaluate the impact on travellers, athletes, and ensure the transport of all delegations to the competition sites” for the Olympics.

Speaking on BFM television, she added: “Playing against the Games is playing against France, against your own camp, against your country.”

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 travellers heading to Paris that there was a problem with overhead power supplies.

The attacks occurred against a backdrop of global tensions and heightened security measures as the city prepared for the Games. Many people were planning to converge on the capital for the opening ceremony, and many holidaymakers were also in transit.

SNCF said it did not know when traffic would resume and feared that disruption would continue “at least all weekend”.

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 are exchangeable and refundable.

Valerie Pecresse, president of the regional council of the greater Paris region, said “250,000 travellers will be affected today on all these lines”. Substitution plans are under way but she advised travellers “not to go to stations”.