Outgoing French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said the sabotage and arson attacks had “a clear objective: to block the high-speed rail network.”
He added that the attackers had strategically targeted the main routes from the north, east and west into Paris, hours before the city was due to host the Olympic opening ceremony. He added that there would be “enormous consequences”, with “hundreds of thousands” of people stranded trying to visit Paris for holidays or the Games.
The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into crimes that could carry sentences of up to 15 to 20 years in prison.
“What a way to start the Olympics,” said Sarah Moseley, 42, after learning her train to London was an hour late.
As Paris authorities prepared for a parade along the Seine amid tight security, three fires were reported near the tracks of the Atlantic, North and East high-speed lines, affecting hundreds of thousands of commuters.
Among them were Olympic athletes.
Two of the three trains carrying athletes from the Games to Paris on the high-speed Atlantique route in the west were stopped before the opening ceremony because of sabotage, an official at rail operator SNCF said.
Among the affected travellers were two German show jumping competitors who were on a train to Paris to take part in the opening ceremony but had to return to Belgium because of the cuts and would now miss the ceremony, the German news agency dpa said.
“There was no longer any chance of getting there in time,” rider Philipp Weishaupt, who was travelling with his teammate Christian Kukuk, told dpa.
Attal said on the social network X that French intelligence services had been mobilised to find those responsible and described the incidents as “acts of sabotage” that were “prepared and coordinated”.
No injuries were reported.
People had been seen fleeing the scene of several fires and incendiary devices had been found, Transport Minister Patrice Vergriet told BFM television. “Everything indicates that these are criminal arson attacks,” he said.
The incidents paralyzed several high-speed lines connecting Paris to the rest of France and neighboring countries, Vergriete said.
The points targeted were intersections of tracks to double the impact, said the state railway company SNCF.
“For every fire, two destinations were affected,” said the firm’s CEO, Jean-Pierre Farandou.
It was “a premeditated, calculated, coordinated attack” that indicated “a desire to seriously harm” the French people, Farandou said.
The attack came amid global tensions and heightened security measures as the city prepared for the 2024 Olympics. Many travellers were due to arrive in the capital for the opening ceremony, and there were also many holidaymakers in transit.
French authorities have foiled several plots to interfere with the Games, and have arrested a Russian man suspected of planning to destabilise the Olympics.
Paris police have “concentrated their personnel at Parisian train stations” following the “massive attack” that paralysed the high-speed TGV network, Paris police chief Laurent Nunez told France Info radio.
Also on Friday, France’s Basel-Mulhouse airport on the border with Germany and Switzerland was evacuated in the morning and remained temporarily closed “for security reasons,” the airport said. It was not clear whether it was linked to the train attacks.
The incidents particularly affected the major Montparnasse station in Paris.
In the crowded station hall, Maiwenn Labbé-Sorin said she had spent hours stranded on a train before the convoy returned to Paris.
“We were two hours without water, without toilets, without electricity,” she said. “Then we were able to go out on the track for a bit and then the train came back. Now I’m not sure what’s going to happen.”
Many passengers at Gare du Nord, one of Europe’s busiest train stations, were looking for answers and solutions on Wednesday morning. All eyes were on the notice boards, with delays on most journeys to northern France, Belgium and the United Kingdom.
“They should have more information for tourists, especially if it is a malicious attack,” said Corey Grainger, a 37-year-old Australian sales manager heading to London, as he rested on his two suitcases in the middle of the station.
Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Casteram said authorities were working to “assess the impact on travellers and athletes and ensure the transport of all delegations to the Olympic venues.” Speaking on BFM television, she said that “playing against the Games is playing against France, against your own side, against your country.”
SNCF said it did not know when traffic would resume and feared disruptions would continue “at least throughout the weekend.” SNCF teams “are already on the ground to carry out diagnostics and begin repairs,” but the “situation should last at least throughout the weekend while repairs are carried out,” the agency added. SNCF advised “all passengers to postpone their journey and not go to the station” and specified in its press release that all tickets could be exchanged or refunded.
Valerie Pecresse, president of the Paris region’s regional council, said that “250,000 travellers will be affected today on all these lines.” Replacement plans were underway, but Pecresse advised travellers “not to go to the stations.”
The complications came ahead of the opening ceremony scheduled for later on Friday, when 7,000 Olympians were due to sail down the Seine past iconic Parisian landmarks including Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay.
