Technical Attack on Train: France’s high-speed rail network was targeted by massive vandalism on Friday (July 26), just hours before the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Officials say the aim is to weaken the country’s high-speed network. Due to this, many trains have been cancelled and many trains have been delayed.
These attacks have affected the French railways’ Atlantic, Northern and Eastern lines. Due to the fire in these lines, a large number of trains have been cancelled and many trains have been delayed, affecting about 80,000 passengers, while the number of passengers in the country is very high during summer holidays.
Hundreds of workers will be needed to repair this line
Jean-Pierre Farandou, the head of French railway company SNCF, told news agency AFP that the attackers had set fire to several fiber optic cables carrying safety information for drivers. They have to be repaired one by one, a manual operation that requires hundreds of workers. Railway officials said that the damage is too much and repair work will be done carefully to fix it.
Appeal to people not to go to the station
Meanwhile, France’s passenger service chief Christophe Fanichet said that rail services between Paris and the north and east of France have been delayed by 90 minutes to two hours. Talking to reporters, Fanichet said, “All passengers have been appealed to postpone their journey. In which it is said that we request people to please not come to the station, because if you do not get any information from us, your train will not run.
The railway line going towards the south-east was not damaged
SNCF CEO Farandou said that last night railway workers saw unknown people during routine maintenance in central France, when the railway workers informed the police, they fled from there. However, a major railway line going towards the south-east of France was saved. But rail services between the capital Paris and the British capital London have been damaged, due to which all trains have been canceled.
Paris turned into an impregnable fortress
The attack came at a time when the French capital is being turned into a fortress ahead of the Paris Olympics. Around 3 lakh spectators, including many VIPs, are expected to attend. Around 7,500 athletes will travel 6 kilometres across the Seine river in about 85 boats in the Olympic parade. Sources told AFP that investigative agencies are scrambling to find the culprits of the alleged ‘sabotage’. They suspect that the arson method of the attack is similar to previous attacks carried out by leftist elements in France.