In a coordinated effort, sabotage artists targeted France’s TGV high-speed train system, causing chaos on the nation’s busiest rail lines just days before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics took place. Tens of thousands of soldiers and police participated in a massive security operation to protect the international sporting extravaganza from any threat, but the action still went ahead.
Arsonists, according to the state-owned railway operator, have harmed signal boxes along the routes that link Paris to cities like Lille in the north, Bordeaux in the west, and Strasbourg in the east. The Paris-Marseille line was protected from another attack. There were thousands upon thousands of stranded people. All travellers were advised to postpone their travels by the SNCF. Although repairs were in progress, there would be significant traffic disruptions until the end of the weekend. Trains were being returned to their original locations.
Neither an admission of guilt nor a suggestion of political motivation was made right away. “We have every reason to think that these were illegal activities,” Patrice Vergriete, the minister of transport, stated to reporters at the Gare du Nord. According to the SNCF, the attacks targeted signalling installations on the high-speed lines that run through the Atlantic, Northern, and Eastern seas. Explosive devices were used to start the fires.
About 800,000 customers had been affected, according to SNCF CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou, ahead of a busy weekend for French vacationers. Countless railway employees were dispatched to rectify the harm. A sense of unease will grow before the opening ceremony of the Olympics in the centre of Paris later on Friday, as a result of the coordinated strikes on the rail system.
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