French train services back to normal after sabotage

AFP , Monday 29 Jul 2024

France's high-speed train network was back to normal on Monday, three days after coordinated acts of sabotage heavily disrupted travel before the Olympics opening ceremony, Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete said.

A high-speed train by French railway company SNCF travels on the Bordeaux-Paris route at reduced spe
A high-speed train by French railway company SNCF travels on the Bordeaux-Paris route at reduced speed, at Chartres, northern France on July 26, 2024, after the resumption of high-speed train services on the line between Paris and Bordeaux, following suspected acts of sabotage on the country's rail network ahead of the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. AFP

 

It remains unclear who carried out the three arson attacks on strategic points of the rail infrastructure early Friday, or if they were deliberately timed to disrupt the Games' opening spectacle later that day.

The network gradually returned to normal over the weekend following repairs.

"This morning, all trains are running," Vergriete told RTL radio.

The attacks affected 800,000 travellers, but "in the end, 700,000 were able to make their trips" while 100,000 were hit by train cancellations, he said.

Since the attacks, 50 drones, 250 rail security agents and 1,000 maintenance workers were deployed to tighten security along the 28,000-kilometre (17,400-mile) high-speed train network, the minister added.

The incident will likely cost millions of euros, Vergriete said.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said authorities had "identified a certain number of profiles that could have committed" the acts of sabotage.

Far-left French anarchists have a history of targeting the train network with arson attacks.

The attacks were "deliberate, very precise, extremely well-targeted," Darmanin told France 2 television.

"This is the traditional type of action of the ultra-left," he said.

But asked whether the profiles that were identified were close to the far left, Darmanin said: "We must be cautious."

He said "The question is to know whether they were manipulated" or acted "for their benefit".

"These people may be close to this movement," the interior minister added.

A statement signed by "an unexpected delegation" was sent to several news media outlets expressing support for the sabotage and criticising the Olympic Games as being a "celebration of nationalism" and the oppression of peoples by nation-states.

Darmanin said the statement was "something that resembles a claim", but "we must be careful because it could be an opportunistic claim".

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