France’s rail network has been “paralysed” by a series of coordinated arson attacks today, affecting nearly a million people traveling to the Olympic games.
Flames engulfed train tracks at strategic points across the country, just hours before the Opening Ceremony on the River Seine in Paris. Gare du Nord, where the Eurostar stops in Paris, is also affected by the attacks on the rail network, said a spokesperson for SNCF, the national state-owned railway company in the country.
Eurostar customers at London St Pancras, which travels directly to Paris, have been told to cancel their trips where possible while the situation resolves itself.
Thousands of people from the UK are due to travel to Paris by rail today for the start of the Olympics, including the majority of Team GB. Trains to neighboring Belgium and to London under the English Channel have also been affected, with warnings for people to delay their travel.
Three fires were reported near the tracks of the French Atlantique, Nord, and Est high-speed lines by local media. Lines in the west, north, and east of France were also targeted, resulting in chaos.
Eurostar said in a statement: “Due to coordinated 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 canceled. Eurostar’s teams are fully mobilized in stations, in the call centers, and onboard to ensure that all passengers are informed and can reach their destination. We encourage our customers to postpone their trip if possible.”
The British Olympic Association confirmed that only two athletes were scheduled to arrive on Friday and had been subject to minor delays. Yo and Beatrix, who are returning to their home in Antwerp after a romantic two-day getaway in Paris, are among the hundreds of people stranded at Gare du Nord.
The couple has stationed themselves in front of the schedule board and are watching the delay of their Eurostar to Amsterdam grow – 20 minutes, then 30, and now 50.
