Vandals set fire to cables on train lines between Paris and the south of France, causing major disruption for passengers.
High-speed TGV services have been severely disrupted between the French capital and Marseille, Avignon, Montpellier and Nice, causing chaos for thousands of people during the half-term holidays.
The French transport ministry and SNCF, the national rail operator, said about 100 timetabled trains had been affected. As a result, passengers were facing cancellations and delays of up to seven hours for trains run by SNCF Voyageurs, Trenitalia and Renfe.
The chaos started early on Monday morning when rail workers discovered a fire on cables south of the station at Valence, which is directly between Lyon and Avignon.
SNCF Réseau, the group in charge of infrastructure, said 16 cables were damaged beyond repair “over a distance of 25 metres”, and replacements were on the way.
Cables and other equipment were damaged by suspicious fires near Valence – AFP
Philippe Tabarot, the French transport minister, said the act was clearly deliberate.
He wrote on social media: “Last night, railway cables were deliberately set on fire… These unacceptable acts of vandalism are severely disrupting traffic.
“SNCF Réseau teams are fully mobilised to restore service as quickly as possible. The police are on the scene: the perpetrators of this sabotage must be identified and severely punished.”
Long queues formed at railway stations including Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, and SNCF, the national rail operator, advised people to postpone their journeys if possible, saying services were not expected to return to normal until Tuesday.
SNCF said: “Our staff on site estimate that the repair work will last until early evening. Traffic could resume this evening but will remain disrupted, and traffic will return to normal from tomorrow morning.”
TGV trains were being diverted “to avoid the area of the incident”, but SNCF said the new route had “very limited” capacity because of a cable theft on Sunday night.
Passengers queue in Marseille to buy tickets for alternative services – AFP
The railway disruption on Monday follows a surge in vandalism and thefts targeting France’s rail infrastructure. Copper cables are frequently stolen for scrap value.
On the eve of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, arsonists cut and set fire to fibre optic cables across the TGV network in railway sabotage attacks affecting the travel plans of 800,000 people. The incident caused major disruptions at the peak of summer holidays.
Gabriel Attal, who was French prime minister at the time, called the acts “prepared and co-ordinated sabotage” with the clear objective of blocking the high-speed train network.
Later, a man described as an “ultra-Left militant” was arrested in north-west France after being found near a railway site with tools and literature linked to the ultra-Left, but no direct connection to the attacks was confirmed.
French media also received a letter from a far-Left group claiming responsibility. But no further public updates have confirmed the identities or motives of the perpetrators.