France’s high-speed rail network was hit Friday with widespread and “criminal” acts of vandalism including arson attacks, paralyzing travel to Paris from across the rest of France and Europe only hours before the opening ceremony of the Olympics.
Targeting remote locations far from the capital, the apparently coordinated attacks sought to cut off rail routes into the city from all directions. The fires were predominantly set in pipes containing critical signaling cables for the system known as the TGV.
Blazes were reported before dawn near the tracks on three separate lines, causing widespread disruptions. Another arson attempt, in the south in Vergigny, was thwarted by rail agents who scared off several suspects.
French officials condemned the attacks as “criminal actions,” although they said there was no sign of a direct link to the Games. Prosecutors in Paris opened a national investigation, saying the crimes could carry sentences of 10 to 20 years.
There were no known reports of injuries, and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said the damage would not affect the opening ceremony.
As Paris authorities geared up for a spectacular parade on and along the River Seine, three fires were reported near the tracks on the high-speed lines of Atlantique, Nord and Est, causing disruptions that affected hundreds of thousands of travelers.
Among them were two German athletes in showjumping who were on a train to Paris to take part in the opening ceremony but had to turn back in Belgium because of the closures and will now miss the ceremony.
“There was no longer a chance of making it on time,” rider Philipp Weishaupt, who was traveling with teammate Christian Kukuk, told German news agency DPA.
French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said France’s intelligence services have been mobilized to find the perpetrators of “acts of sabotage” that he described as “prepared and coordinated.” He said the sabotage and arson had “a clear objective: blocking the high-speed train network.”
He said the vandals strategically targeted routes from the north, east and west toward Paris hours before the capital hosts the opening ceremony.
It was “a premeditated, calculated, coordinated attack” that indicates “a desire to seriously harm” the French people, the CEO of the national railway company SNCF, Jean-Pierre Farandou, said, adding that “the places were especially chosen to have the most serious impact, since each fire cut off two lines.”
Farandou said railway maintenance workers managed to thwart a suspected sabotage attempt along tracks heading southeast of Paris by spotting intruders and alerting police.
The attack occurred against a backdrop of global tensions and heightened security measures as the city prepared for the 2024 Olympic Games. Many travelers were planning to converge on the capital for the opening ceremony, and many vacationers were also in transit.
“Paris 2024 has taken note of incidents affecting the Atlantic, North and East lines of the SNCF rail network,” the Games’ organizers said in a statement. “We are working closely with our partner, the rail operator SNCF, to assess the situation.”
IOC president Thomas Bach told the BBC that he was not concerned and that he had “full confidence in the French authorities.”
French authorities have foiled several plots to disrupt the Olympics, including arresting a Russian man on suspicion of planning to destabilize the Games.
Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castera said authorities were working to “evaluate the impact on travelers, athletes, and ensure the transport of all delegations to the competition sites” for the Olympics. Speaking on BFM television, she added, “Playing against the Games is playing against France, against your own camp, against your country.”
SNCF said it did not know when traffic would resume and feared that disruptions would continue “at least all weekend.” SNCF teams “were already on site to carry out diagnostics and begin repairs,” but the “situation should last at least all weekend while the repairs are carried out.”
France’s Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete said train traffic was beginning to resume in the afternoon, especially on the Atlantique line, which had been completely halted.
More than 300,000 spectators are expected to line the banks of the Seine when the athletes parade through the heart of Paris on a flotilla of barges and riverboats, part of an extravagant opening ceremony that will be watched by a global audience.
France is deploying 45,000 police, 10,000 soldiers and 2,000 private security agents to secure the Games’ opening ceremony. Snipers will be on rooftops and drones keeping watch from the air.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
