PARIS — Saboteurs attacked France’s TGV high-speed train network in coordinated actions, causing chaos on the country’s busiest rail lines ahead of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony on Friday.
Despite a massive security operation involving tens of thousands of troops and police to guard against threats to the global sporting event, arsonists managed to damage signal boxes along lines connecting Paris with cities such as Lille in the north, Bordeaux in the west, and Strasbourg in the east. Another attack on the Paris-Marseille line was foiled.
Hundreds of thousands of people were left stranded. The state-owned railway operator, SNCF, urged all travelers to postpone their journeys. Repairs were underway, but traffic is expected to be severely disrupted until at least the end of the weekend. Trains were being sent back to their points of departure.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility and no indication of whether the action was politically motivated.
“Everything leads us to believe that these were criminal acts,” Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete told reporters at the Gare du Nord.
The attacks targeted signaling installations on the Atlantic, Northern, and Eastern high-speed lines, with fires set off by explosive devices, the SNCF said.
SNCF chief Jean-Pierre Farandou said some 800,000 customers had been impacted ahead of a busy weekend for French holidaymakers. Thousands of rail staff have been deployed to repair the damage.
The coordinated strikes on the rail network have heightened apprehensions ahead of the Olympics opening ceremony in the heart of Paris later on Friday.
