LAST UPDATE | 26 Jul
HIGH-SPEED RAIL lines in France have been hit by several “malicious acts”, including arson, which have heavily disrupted services just hours before the Olympics opening ceremony, according to the national rail company.
The fires that affected France’s Atlantic, northern and eastern lines have led to cancellations and delays, with Eurostar services also impacted.
“Last night, SNCF was the victim of several concurrent malicious acts affecting the Atlantic, North and East lines. Arson attacks were started to damage our facilities,” the SNCF said in a statement.
The rail operator said 250,000 passengers were due to travel on the high-speed service today, with around 800,000 passengers set to be affected over the weekend.
⚠️ Due to coordinated acts of malice in France, affecting several high speed lines, several high speed trains are being diverted or cancelled.
— SNCF Voyageurs (@SNCFVoyageurs) July 26, 2024
Our teams are fully mobilised in stations, in the call centers, and onboard to ensure that all passengers are informed and can reach… https://t.co/IRXQK6lCtu
SNCF chief executive Jean-Pierre Farandou said that the attackers had 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.
A source close to the investigation has described the attacks as coordinated acts of “sabotage”.
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,” Fanichet told reporters.
Government officials have denounced the incidents happening around France hours before the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, though there was no immediate sign of a link to the Games.
National police said authorities are investigating what happened. French media reported a large fire on a busy western route.
Transport minister Patrice Vergriete said he “firmly condemns these criminal incidents” and that SNCF is working to restore services.
There would be “very serious consequences” for rail traffic throughout the weekend with connections towards northern, eastern and northwestern France halved, Vergriete said.
Paris police chief Laurent Nunez, speaking on France Info radio, said he would send reinforcement to overcrowded stations in relation to the SNCF incidents.
Passengers at St Pancras in London were warned to expect delays of around an hour to their Eurostar journeys.
Eurostar said in a statement: “Due to co-ordinated acts of malice in France, affecting the high-speed line between Paris and Lille, all high-speed trains going to and coming from Paris are being diverted via the classic line today Friday July 26.
“This extends the journey time by around an hour-and-a-half. Several trains have been cancelled.
“Eurostar’s teams are fully mobilised in stations, in the call centres, and onboard to ensure that all passengers are informed and can reach their destination. We encourage our customers to postpone their trip if possible.”
It comes as thousands of athletes prepare to set to sail through central Paris later this morning as the unprecedented Olympics opening ceremony kicks off what is set to be an ambitious rendition of the Olympic Games in Paris.
The parade will see up to 7,500 competitors travel down a six-kilometre stretch of the river Seine on a flotilla of 85 boats, disembarking at the Eiffel Tower. Ireland will be on boat 28.
A record 133 athletes are to represent Ireland across 16 different sports over the course of the Games.
Last week, mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo took a dip in the Seine to showcase the river’s improved cleanliness ahead of the games.
The Paris show will take place in front of 300,000 cheering spectators and an audience of VIPs and celebrities from around the world – an improvement on Tokyo’s 2020 Games, which had been delayed and shown to an empty stadium as a result of the pandemic.
“Tomorrow you will have one of the most incredible opening ceremonies,” French President Emmanuel Macron promised at a pre-Games dinner for heads of state and government at the Louvre museum yesterday evening.
The line-up of performers is a closely guarded secret but US pop star Lady Gaga and French-Malian singer Aya Nakamura – the most listened-to French-speaking singer in the world – are rumoured to be among them.
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 terrorism.
For months, organisers have been dogged by questions about whether they would need to scale back or move the procession, but they had insisted throughout that there was no plan B.
A huge security perimeter has been erected along both banks of the Seine, guarded round-the-clock by some of the 45,000 police and paramilitary officers who will be on duty on Friday evening.
Another 10,000 soldiers are set to add to the security blanket along with 22,000 private security guards.
In May, it was confirmed that 56 gardaí would be sent to Paris in three rounds to assist with the mammoth security operation.
“Without any doubt, it is much more difficult to secure half of Paris than to secure a stadium, where you have 80,000 people and you can frisk them and send them through turnstiles,” Frederic Pechenard, an ex-director general of the French police, told AFP.
Police snipers are set to be positioned on every high point along the route of the river convoy, which is overlooked by hundreds of buildings.
An assassination attempt on US presidential candidate Donald Trump on July 13 has focused minds.
Armed officers will also be on the boats, a security source told AFP.
The Israeli and Palestinian teams will be given extra protection, with the tensions caused by Israel’s offensive in Gaza, where nearly 40,000 people are estimated to have died, already spilling into the Games.
Organisers will be on guard against fresh protests on Friday evening after the Israeli football team’s first match on Wednesday was marked by the waving of Palestinian flags and the booing of the Israeli anthem.
The opening ceremony is likely to define the mood for the rest of the July 26-August 11 Games, which organisers have pledged will be “iconic”.
Around 3,000 dancers are set to perform from the banks of the river and nearby monuments, including Notre-Dame cathedral, in a show that will promote diversity, gender equality and French history.
The landmarks and architecture of the City of Light, one of the world’s best-loved destinations, is set to feature as a backdrop both to tonight’s show and much of the sport afterwards.
“The opening ceremony is a huge event and one that, arguably, sets the tone for the next 17 days,” Hugh Robertson, the minister charged with delivering the 2012 London Olympics, told AFP recently.
Paris’s vision is for a more cost-effective and less polluting Olympics than previous editions, with competitions set to take place at historic locations around the capital.
For scheduling reasons, some events have already started, including the football, rugby sevens and archery — the latter taking place in front of the golden-domed Invalides, the final resting place of Napoleon.
Yesterday, women’s football took centre stage after a chaotic start to the sporting action in the men’s football 24 hours earlier caused by a pitch invasion during an Argentina-Morocco game.
US gymnastics superstar Simone Biles, set to once again be one of the faces of the Games, got her first taste of the Bercy Arena as she trained ahead of the start of competition at the weekend.
Biles is strongly tipped to add to her haul of four Olympic golds at the Paris Games after a tumultuous campaign in Tokyo three years ago, when she pulled out of most of her events as she battled the disorientating condition that gymnasts call “twisties”.
Includes reporting by Jane Moore and AFP.
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