A “massive attack” hit three of the four TGV lines leaving Paris early on Friday, just a few hours before the start of the Olympic Games. French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal assures that the sabotage was well prepared and coordinated.
The Minister of Transport of France, Patrice Vergriete has assured that train services are “beginning to resume” after suffering a “massive attack” on the high-speed train network last Friday, a few hours before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris.
“Traffic is starting to move again, I would like to thank the SNCF (French National Railway Company) agents who mobilised vigorously this morning,” Vergriete said during an interview for TF1 in which he announced that one in three trains should be in operation this afternoon.
On the other hand, the Parisian mayor, Anne Hidalgohas assured that the incident on the rail network that will not happen “no impact on the ceremony” opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, which will be held in the city centre tonight, because “it will not affect the transport network”.
The SNCF reported on Friday a “massive attack” on its high-speed train network, with three of the capital’s four lines affected and “a large number of trains” having to be diverted or even cancelled. The company has asked travellers to postpone their journeys and not to go to stations. Some 250,000 travellers have been affected today alone, but this could rise to 800,000 in the coming days.
Operation “Prepared and Coordinated”
He sabotage that the high-speed lines in France suffered last Friday, affecting hundreds of thousands of people on the opening day of the Olympic Games. was well prepared and demonstrates good knowledge of the networkas emphasized by the Prime Minister Frans, Gabriel Attal.
In statements to the press from the crisis unit set up at the Ministry of Transport and Public Works, Attal, in the name of ‘caution’, did not want to speculate on the hypothesis circulating that this could be the work of an ultra-left group, taking into account that the investigation has only just begun.
However, he noted that “it is clear that this operation was prepared and coordinated, that neuralgic points were attacked, which demonstrates some form of knowledge of the network to attack it.”
And he has urged “the impact, which is enormous, on our citizens” and the authors’ “determination” to “block hundreds of thousands of people” and to do so “deliberately.”
The attacks took place between 1am and 5.30am and consisted of setting fire to signalling equipment on high-speed train (TGV) lines.
This has affected three of the four TGV axes leaving Paris, the northern one (which serves, for example, the Eurostars going to London, Brussels, the Netherlands and northern Germany), the eastern one and the Atlantic one.
The Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office is centralizing the investigation opened into four crimes, which, outside the usual law enforcement agencies, is being handled by the secret services.
The SNCF will present a new transport plan this afternoon to offer alternatives to the 250,000 people it estimates have already been affected by the disruptions, which could rise to 800,000 if the problems continue this weekend.
All this has taken place a few hours before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris, which has completely disrupted the normal functioning of the city, as the center has been cordoned off, awaiting the presence of a total of around 600,000 spectators, and the circulation has almost been suspended.
Source: EITB
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