PARIS — Hours before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris on friday, part of France‘s high-speed network was crippled by a ‘massive attack’ that disrupted service to hundreds of thousands of passengers, officials said.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said the country’s intelligence and law enforcement agencies had been mobilized to track down suspects, as he warned in a after on X that “the consequences for the rail network are enormous and serious.”
France’s national railway network SNFC said in a press release that a series of “coordinated” arson attacks had damaged a number of its facilities and services, while another “malicious act was foiled” on the LGV Sud-Est line linking Paris and Lyon.
The incident was called a “massive attack” and an update said at least 250,000 passengers would be affected on Friday, with 800,000 expected to be affected over the weekend. A large number of services had to be cancelled, it said, and affected passengers were warned to postpone their travel plans and “not to go to the station”.
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SNCF Chairman and CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou told reporters that fibre optic cables had been set on fire in at least three locations. The cables were connected to signal boxes and other railway infrastructure, he said.
He said the attacks were likely coordinated with the intention of seriously disrupting the country’s rail network.
The Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office said in a press release that an investigation has been opened into charges including damage to property that could harm the nation’s fundamental interests, which could carry penalties of up to 15 years in prison and a fine of 225,000 euros (about $244,200).
French Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete also spoke of “coordinated malicious actions” targeting several lines that would “seriously disrupt traffic until this weekend.”
In comments broadcast by French broadcaster BFMTV, Vergriete later said the disruptions appeared to be simultaneous and deliberate. It was unclear who might be responsible.
One passenger, Mëliss Davy, 23, said she had planned to travel from Paris to Nantes, a city in the Upper Brittany region of western France, on Saturday for a friend’s birthday, but was surprised when she received a message on the SNCF app saying her train had been delayed due to an “act of vandalism”.
Her train was later canceled altogether, she said, speaking to NBC News via X. “Luckily, I was able to book a train tomorrow morning at a station on the outskirts of Paris,” Davy said. However, she added that the train station, Gare Montparnasse, was packed with confused, tired “and quite impatient” passengers whose travel plans had also been affected.
Richard Engel, chief foreign correspondent for NBC News, saw widespread confusion at Gare Montparnasse. A bustling group of passengers seemed calm but eager for updates and answers about their delayed journeys.
SNCF said it was working to restore services following the incident and urged passengers to postpone their travel plans and “not to go to the station”. It said all tickets would be exchangeable and refundable and passengers would be notified of updates by text message.
Early in the afternoon, trains appeared to be running normally again at one of Europe’s most important hubs, Gare du Nord.
SNFC trains were routinely seen coming and going, with arrival/departure monitors lined with rows reading ‘on time’.
Separately, Eurostar said in a rack on its website that all high-speed trains between Paris and the northwestern city of Lille were being diverted from the high-speed line to the slower, classic line.
Teams, call centres and trains were mobilised to assist passengers and provide them with updates.
Nancy Ing reported from Paris and Chantal Da Silva from London
This article first appeared on NBCNews.com.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
