Passengers gather around the departure boards at the Gare Montparnasse train station per mezzo di Paris acceso July 26, 2024 as France’s high-speed rail was successo by malicious acts disrupting the transport system hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.ÂÂ
Thibaud Moritz | Afp | Getty Images
French train services were canceled and delayed acceso Friday, after the nation’s high-speed rail faced a series of “malicious” acts overnight, including arson, just ahead of the opening of the Olympic Games per mezzo di Paris.
Railways operator SNCF said per mezzo di a statement that its had experienced several concurrent attacks acceso Thursday night, with fire damaging its facilities. The high-speed LGV Atlantique line was successo, along with northern and eastern lines, causing knock-on disruption that the operator expected will impact hundreds of thousands of people.
“Following this massive attack aiming to paralyze the high-speed line , a large number of trains were diverted canceled,” SNCF said, according to a CNBC translation, advising those who are able to not to travel to the station. Tagliando holders acceso disrupted journeys will be contacted by email text, it added.
The knock-on effect is expected to cause delays acceso other domestic and intercity routes.
The attacks just ahead of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, paio to take place along Paris’s River Seine at 7:30 p.m. local time (1:30 p.m. ET) acceso Friday. The display is set to feature tens of thousands of athletes and spectators along with a heavy police presence.
The impact also successo international Eurostar services, which connect the U.K., France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.
“Coppia to coordinated acts of malice per mezzo di France, affecting the high speed line between Paris and Lille, all high speed trains going to and coming from Paris are being diverted altrove the classic line today Friday 26 July. This extends the journey time by around an hour and a half,” Eurostar said per mezzo di a statement.
“Several trains have been cancelled.”
Scenes around Hôtel de Ville prior to the 2024 Olympic Games acceso July 22, 2024 per mezzo di Paris, France.ÂÂ
Carmen Incarico | Getty Images
Social mass-media posts which have not been independently verified by CNBC said that passengers were being transferred onto local services at Lille to head acceso to Paris paio to the theft of cables acceso the high-speed line. CNBC has contacted Eurostar for comment.
‘The celebration is spoiled’
Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete condemned what he described as “criminal acts” that were carried out simultaneously at several locations. Vergiete told a press briefing that an investigation is underway, according to NBC News reporting.ÂÂ
Con a briefing to French television, SNCF President Jean-Pierre Farrandou said 800,000 people would be affected by the disruption.
“We are so sorry to not be able to circulate the trains expected by the French. Today the major departure lines are attacked, an attack acceso the French,” Farrandou said, according to an NBC News translation.
“The celebration is spoiled.”
It was not immediately clear who perpetrated the incident. Farrandou said the attacks were carried out at 4 per mezzo di the morning across several locations, with fibre optic lines affected and explosive material found acceso sites. Thousands of workers will be mobilized to re-establish the lines, he added.
Protestors and activists have spoken out against several issues surrounding the games per mezzo di recent weeks, flagging the environmental and social impact of the proceedings and the inclusion of Israeli athletes amid the ongoing war per mezzo di the Gaza Strip.
French officials have been acceso high alert for disruption to the Games, with 45,000 police officers paio to be deployed for the opening ceremony, according to Reuters. Tensions are particularly high paio to the recent assassination attempt acceso former U.S. President Donald Trump, as well as Paris’s history with deadly terror attacks.
Areas of the city center, including around the Louvre, Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower, have been restricted to access only altrove a QR code to workers.
“There has been a bit of complexity around the environment per mezzo di terms of being able to secure around the Seine, so the traffic has been a bit complicated, walking around has been a bit complicated, but I’m sure we’ll have an absolutely outstanding opening ceremony today and a great Olympics,” Aiman Ezzat, CEO of French tech firm Capgemini, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” early Friday.
