France’s high-speed rail network has been hit by coordinated “malicious acts” including arson attacks that have brought major disruption to many of the country’s busiest rail lines hours before the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.
The state-owned railway operator, SNCF, said arsonists had targeted installations along the lines connecting Paris with the country’s west, north and east and that traffic would be severely disrupted across the country during the weekend.
“This is a massive attack on a large scale to paralyse the TGV network,” the SNCF told Agence France-Presse, adding that many routes would have to be cancelled and the situation would last “at least all weekend while repairs are conducted”.
The national train operator said it had been “the victim of several simultaneous malicious acts overnight”, adding that the attacks affected its Atlantic, northern and eastern lines. Crucial cables had been cut and burned.
“Arson attacks were started in order to damage our facilities,” the SNCF said, adding that traffic on the affected lines was “heavily disrupted”. A further attack was averted on the south-eastern line, French media reported.
The travel plans of about 800,000 French holiday-makers will be disrupted this weekend. Jean-Pierre Farandou, the head of the SNCF, said it was a “sad day” because families would be the worst affected by what he said were attacks by “irresponsible cranks”.
The attacks appeared to have been planned and carefully targeted at strategic points on the rail network.
The sports minister, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, condemned the vandalism. “It’s completely appalling,” she told BFMTV. “To target the games is to target France.”
The transport minister, Patrice Vergriete, said there had been “coordinated malicious acts” during the night against several lines. He condemned what he called “criminal actions” that would “compromise many French people’s departure on holiday”.
French holiday-makers who were intending to travel on what is one of the major departure weekends of the summer holidays are expected to be the hardest hit by the incidents.
Several Olympic fixtures, including football matches, will be taking place in locations outside Paris, including Nantes and Bordeaux, which are connected to Paris by major rail lines.
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Crowds of passengers were stranded at stations, including the Gare Montparnasse in Paris, after their trains were cancelled.
The prefect in charge of Paris policing, Laurent Nuñez, said more police were being diverted to stations in Paris on Friday because large numbers of people were gathered there.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the arson.