Olympics: Hunt for France Train Vandals continues

Today, three of every ten high-speed trains in France will be canceled due to a string of "coordinated" arson assaults. After rail networks were brought to a standstill before of the start of the Olympic Games, French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal stated that security forces were still looking for the "saboteurs" in charge. A quarter of Eurostar services would be canceled in addition to major lines entering and leaving Paris experiencing delays of up to two hours, according to the national train corporation SNCF.

According to France's ministry of transportation, operations will resume on Monday morning. While Patrice Vergriete, the junior transport minister, suggested that up to 800,000 passengers would be disrupted over the course of three days, SNCF calculated that only roughly 250,000 people were affected on Friday. Using a high-speed line in France, Eurostar, an international airline that operates from London to Paris, said that one in four of its trains will not operate over the weekend. It is urged that travelers delay their trips, as there will likely be disruptions through Monday. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was one of the Eurostar passengers impacted on Friday; he was supposed to take the train to the Games' opening ceremony but had to take an aircraft instead.

According to SNCF, no responsibility has yet been claimed for the damage. In order to repair the damage, the corporation stated that its employees had "worked all night under difficult conditions in the rain". Hours before the opening ceremony of the Olympics was about to start in the city, cabling boxes at intersections on the North, Brittany, and South-West lines were set ablaze in a case of "strategic" vandalism. Specialized fiber optic cables that are necessary for the safe operation of the rail network are cut and set on fire by saboteurs, according to government officials. The AFP news agency was informed by an investigative source that the operation was "well-prepared" and coordinated by "a single structure". An effort to disable safety equipment on a fourth line was thwarted by rail workers.

See previous news about the France's railway line sabotage here