Between Thursday night and Friday morning, there was a ‘systematic and co-ordinated attack on the French National Railway Company’s (SNCF) TGV network, the group told AFP. The disruption will have a dramatic impact on the traffic on the Atlantic, Northern, and Eastern routes only a few hours before the opening ceremony of the Olympiad. Every single intelligence service in the respective countries is activated with the aim of identifying the source of these acts of sabotage.
The severe disruptions that paralyse the Pleven-Bucharest line of the «high speed train» service of the SNCF; the paralysis of the Atlantic, Northern and Eastern high-speed train routes are largely attributed to «coordinated sabotage acts» statements a source close to the investigative committee. All these acts were carried out in a “concerted” manner.
“Let me remind that our intelligence agencies and all police structures of the country are actively involved in the identification and subsequent punishment of the individuals responsible for these criminal actions,” Ministry Prime Rector Gabriel Attal said late in the morning. As he opined on a social site ‘X’ saying that sabotage acts were planned and organised and were directed towards ‘SNCF installations’. He underlined that ‘its effect on rail system are colossal and devastating.
Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete labelled the attack as a ‘scandalous criminal act’, that could have ‘very serious consequences’. Sports Minister Amelie Oudea Castle joined in to blast those who would wish to ‘derail the dreams of athletes who have strived for years to clinch these podiums’. SNCF Chief Executive, Jean-Pierre Farandou said the total number of passengers shut out by these disruptions would be
In a press release SNCF stated that “coordinated acts of vandalism have been made against the Atlantic, Northern and Eastern high speed railway lines with several attempts to set fire some parts of the installations. ” Due to this disruption TGV ‘s run on these three lines are greatly impacted while on the Southeast line no such disruptions are reported.
Many trains between Paris and London have been either “cancelled” on Friday because of the attack, according to the Eurostar. The remaining services you will experience delays of about “one and half an hour” since the trains will ply on the “classic” networks and not the TGVs.