Paris prosecutors open probe after rail arson ‘sabotage’ hours before start of Olympics

PARIS - France’s prosecutors are probing arson attacks that scrambled the country’s high-speed rail network for tens of thousands of passengers on July 26, after what officials called premeditated acts of “sabotage”

just hours before the Paris Olympics opened

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The attacks were launched while the French capital was under heavy security ahead of the Games opening ceremony, with 300,000 spectators and an audience of VIPs expected at the event in which up to 7,500 competitors will travel down a 6km stretch of the river Seine on a flotilla of 85 boats.

It will be the first time a Summer Olympics has opened outside the main athletics stadium, a decision fraught with danger at a time when France is on its highest alert for terror attacks.

The fires that affected France’s atlantic, northern and eastern lines led to cancellations and delays at a time of particularly heavy traffic for summer holiday travel. Around 800,000 passengers are expected to be affected over the weekend, as the damage is heavy and labour-intensive to repair.

“Early this morning, coordinated and prepared acts of sabotage were perpetrated against installations of SNCF,” Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said, referring to the national rail operator.

“There are huge and serious consequences for the rail network,” he added, while security services are hunting the culprits.

SNCF chief executive Jean-Pierre Farandou said that the attackers started fires in conduits carrying multiple fibre-optic cables that carry safety information for drivers or control the motors for points.

“There’s a huge number of bundled cables. We have to repair them one by one. It’s a manual operation (requiring) hundreds of workers,” he added.

Passenger services chief Christophe Fanichet said there were delays of 90 minutes to two hours on services between Paris and France’s north and east.

“We ask people please not to come to the station, because if you haven’t heard from us, your train won’t be running,” Mr Fanichet told reporters.

One major branch of the network, the line to France’s south-east, was spared.

CEO Farandou said that railway workers doing night maintenance in central France spotted unauthorised people, who fled when the workers called in police.

Multiple services between Paris and London via northern France were also cancelled, the Eurostar company said, with others suffering delays as they divert onto lines not meant for high-speed trains.

Paris’ RATP transport network was also operating under increased vigilance, following the railway attacks, its chief executive Jean Castex said as he visited a control station.

The RATP has laid on a denser schedule throughout the day to take spectators to and from the opening ceremony.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility and no indication of whether the action was politically related.

Paris prosecutors on July 26 said they have opened a probe into the suspected bid to undermine “fundamental national interests”.

The investigation will also probe suspected damage inflicted by an organised gang and attacks on an automated data processing system, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement.

Her statement described the acts of sabotage as “deliberate damage caused to sites of (French national rail operator) SNCF on the night of July 25-26, 2024”.

The charge of “damage to property likely to harm fundamental national interests” carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison.

In September, arson attacks on conduits holding railway cables caused travel chaos in northern Germany, with a claim of responsibility posted to an extreme-left website.

Disappointed travellers

France’s rail network was expected to be busy this weekend not only due to the Olympics but also as people return from or leave for their summer holidays.

At Paris’ Montparnasse train station, passengers were waiting for information, with display boards showing delays of more than two hours.

SNCF said there would be no trains at all from Montparnasse before 1pm.

“Normal traffic is expected to resume on Monday, July 29,” read one of the signs in the departure hall.

Graphic designer Katherine Abby, 30, clung to hope that her trip would only be delayed and not cancelled. She booked her tickets for Biarritz, a popular south-west beach resort, weeks ago.

“It’s my only vacation of the year,” said Ms Abby, who was travelling with her husband.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment for a year, I would be pretty demoralised to have to cancel this trip, especially when you see what Paris looks like with the Olympic Games,” she said.

“We’re pretty upset, it’s a bad first impression” of France, said Ms Ellie Scott, 24, an Irish tourist in Bordeaux hoping to reach Paris for the Olympics.

She and her sister Maya, 21, planned to refund their tickets and rent a car instead for a six-hour drive to the capital. AFP