France’s high-speed rail network has been damaged by “malicious acts” such as arson assaults, train operator SNCF said Friday, hours before the Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony.
A source close to the probe told AFP that the strikes were coordinated acts of “sabotage”.
“This is a massive attack on a large scale to paralyse the TGV network,” SNCF told AFP, adding that many routes will have to be cancelled.
“SNCF was the victim of several simultaneous malicious acts overnight,” the national train operator said, adding that the attacks affected its Atlantic, northern and eastern lines.
“Arson attacks were started to damage our facilities,” it said, adding that traffic on the affected lines was “heavily disrupted” and the situation would last through the weekend as repairs are conducted.
Trains were being diverted to different tracks “but we will have to cancel a large number of them”, the statement said.
The southeastern line was not affected as “a malicious act was foiled”.
SNCF urged passengers to postpone their trips and stay away from train stations.
Olympics under heavy security
The attacks occurred as Paris was under high security ahead of the Summer Olympics’ opening ceremony, which was scheduled to attract 300,000 spectators and a VIP audience.
aboard Friday evening, up to 7,500 contestants will go along a six-kilometer (four-mile) stretch of the Seine aboard an 85-boat flotilla.
It will be the first Summer Olympics to take place outside of the main athletics stadium, a risky decision at a time when France is on high alert for terrorist strikes.
After delays ranging from 30 minutes to nearly two hours were reported, dozens of travelers waited for more information regarding their trips at Paris’s Montparnasse station.
“Normal traffic is expected to resume on Monday, July 29,” read one of the signs in the departure hall.
“We arrived around 7:00 am but we were told that we might not be able to leave before Monday,” said 27-year-old student Jocelyn, who had planned to travel to Bretagne and refused to give her full name.
“We expected it to be a bit chaotic in Paris with the opening ceremony scheduled for this evening, but we didn’t think it could be this bad,” she said.