Mass Attack on French Railways on Paris Olympics Opening Day: Critical Infrastructure Arson & Cyberattack Leave 800,000 Passengers Stranded
High-speed trains were hit by several ‘malicious acts’ on Friday, severely disrupting traffic on the opening day of the Paris Olympics, according to France's national railway company SNCF.
The ‘massive attack’ on the TGV high-speed train network, which will cause disruption for the rest of the weekend, affects 800,000 travellers, SNCF CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou said during a press briefing.
Thousands of passengers are stranded across the country from and to London below the English Channel, to neighbouring Belgium, and across western, northern and eastern France, affected by what SNCF described as a series of coordinated overnight incidents.
Passengers at St Pancras station in London were warned that their Eurostar services would be delayed by around an hour. Announcements in the departure hall at the international terminus informed travellers heading to Paris of a power problem.
The National Police reported that the authorities are investigating what happened. French media reported a large fire on the busy western route.
Transport Minister Patrice Vergriet said in a post on X that he ‘strongly condemns these criminal incidents’ and that SNCF was working to restore traffic.