The SNCF suffered a “massive attack” on the night of Thursday to Friday, which seriously disrupted the circulation of its trains on the Atlantic, North and East routes for “the whole weekend”, a few hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Coordinated fires hitting “hot spots” and affecting around 800,000 passengers: traffic on some TGVs will remain disrupted this weekend after a “massive attack” on the high-speed network a few hours before the opening of the Olympic Games.
The SNCF was able to announce on Friday evening “an improvement in TGV traffic” on Saturday, in the middle of the summer weekend, thanks to the “exceptional mobilisation of several thousand railway workers, including more than a hundred on repairs”.
The carrier will therefore be able to operate two out of three trains to the West and 80% on the North axis, although there will be delays of one to two hours on these two axes, while traffic will be normal on the East.
Fiber optic cables running near the tracks and ensuring the transmission of safety information for drivers (red lights, points, etc.) were cut and set on fire at various locations on the network, causing massive chaos early on Friday morning.
The TGV Atlantique line, which links Paris to Brittany, Pays de la Loire and the South-West, was the most affected. No trains were able to run in either direction until early afternoon, before a gradual resumption.
Eurostar, the company which serves Paris, London and Amsterdam, among others, was forced to cancel a quarter of its trains on Friday.