A series of coordinated, malicious arson attacks on the rail system of France have stranded hundreds of thousands of travelers and brought transportation into and out of the city of Paris to a standstill overnight, just hours before the 2024 Olympic Games were set to kick off.
SNCF CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou, head of France’s national state-owned railway company, said in a news briefing on Friday that the fiber optic cables that connect to signal boxes and other rail infrastructure had been taken apart and set on fire. It’s still unclear who is behind the attacks, but French intelligence services are “fully mobilized” to find out who is responsible, per CNN.
An intelligence source said that similar methods have been employed by far-left activists in the past, but that “there is no evidence to tie today’s actions to them.”
Atlantic, Northern, and Eastern high-speed lines were impacted due to the attacks, which caused damage to several facilities. A planned attack on the South East line, meanwhile, had been foiled by authorities. At least 250,000 travelers were impacted on Friday, with roughly 800,000 expected to be affected through the weekend while crews high to make repairs.
“Following this massive attack aimed at paralyzing the high-speed line network, a large number of trains were diverted or canceled,” the company said in a statement. “Affected travelers will be contacted by email or SMS. We ask all travelers who can to postpone their trip and not to go to the station. All tickets for these disrupted journeys are exchangeable and refundable.”
French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal called the consequences to the rail network “massive and serious” in a social media post on Friday, warning that “intelligence services and law enforcement are mobilized to find and punish the perpetrators of these criminal acts.”
The prosecutor’s office in Paris have detailed four separate criminal charges in an investigation into the attacks, pertaining to the damage of state property and coordinating organized crime. Those found to be responsible could face up to 20 years in prison with a fine of $325,000. As of Friday afternoon, Attal said he was not aware that any arrests had taken place.
The Opening Ceremony for the 2024 Olympic Games is set to take place today at 1:30 p.m. eastern time. Athletes will parade down the river Seine through the center of the city. The ceremony is still scheduled to take place as planned, although some spectators and athletes may not be able to attend.
