Politics

Paris 2024, between delays and cancelled trains, rail traffic slowly resumes

A few hours before the official opening of the Olympic Games in Paris, the French railways were targeted by terrorist attacks that paralyzed the entire network. Three fires near the tracks, on the Atlantic, North and East lines, severely disrupted traffic, almost completely blocking the Montparnasse station in Paris.

The massive attack on the TGV high-speed train network, which will cause disruptions until the end of the weekend according to the CEO of Sncf, Jean-Pierre Farandou affects about one million people. As we write, two-thirds of trains have been cancelled on the TGV Atlantique axis, both departing from and arriving at Montparnasse station, SNCF reports. Trains to Brittany and Pays de la Loire “pass via the classic line, adding two hours to travel time”, it stresses Franck Dubourdieudirector of the TGV Atlantique line. Trains heading to the Southwest also run on the high-speed line, but are experiencing delays. The Paris prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into the arson attacks that have hit the French high-speed rail network. The investigation has been entrusted to the National Jurisdiction for the Fight against Organized Crime. The prosecutor’s office said “it has jurisdiction over crimes that cause damage to property and threaten the essential interests of the nation” and specified that such crimes can lead to a sentence of up to 15 years in prison and a fine of 225,000 euros. It also added that the crimes of “degradation and attempted degradation by dangerous means in the context of an organized group can lead to prison sentences of 20 years and fines of 150,000 euros”.

Who was it? The hypotheses put forward in recent days by French investigative circles (confirmed this morning by The Parisian) on a possible trail that leads to environmental terrorism behind the railway sabotage that occurred on the opening day of the Paris Olympics, come a few days after the radical group’s proclamation Just Stop Oilwhich announced “the beginning of a global uprising against transportation and pollution”. This message was spread through a video in the United Kingdom, after an attempted raid (which led to nine arrests) also at London’s Heathrow Airport, one of the main airports for European air traffic. At the same time, German eco-terrorists conducted a similar initiative at Cologne-Bonn Airport, as indicated in the same video by the affiliated organization Last Generation. The announcement was followed by a successful raid at Frankfurt Airport, in Germany, which was blocked for several hours, and by raids in the United States and Canada against road and air traffic.

Just Stop Oil is a campaign calling for a total ban on hydrocarbons, while Last Generation denounces all forms of pollution considered to be the cause of climate change. Both organizations claim that disobedience to the laws is a necessity to shake the world and denounce governments and companies in the face of the climate emergency and the risks to the planet. One of the acts of sabotage was foiled tonight in Yonne. Railway workers, engaged in maintenance operations, noticed the presence of unauthorized persons and immediately alerted the gendarmerie, forcing the offenders to flee. The perpetrators “set fire to the gutters where the fiber optic cables pass, which transmit safety information for drivers and control the switch motors. These are many cables that have to be repaired one by one, and it is a manual operation,” explained railway officials, adding that hundreds of officers were mobilized to manage the situation.

This morning as he writes The Figaroduring the press conference launching the Paris Games at the Club France, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra commented on the acts of sabotage that hit the SNCF TGV network last night. “This will not be the first nor the last of the difficulties that we will face,” said the Minister of Sport and the Olympic and Paralympic Games. However, the impression is that these Olympics have started very badly and that is usually a bad omen.