Sabotage hits French railways hours before Olympics opening ceremony

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France has suspended high-speed rail services across much of the country after the network was hit by sabotage attacks hours before the Olympic Games opening ceremony.

The co-ordinated arson attacks on Thursday night will alarm organisers of the Paris summer games as they prepare to host hundreds of thousands of spectators in the capital for the opening ceremony.

“Fires were set intentionally to damage our infrastructure, and teams of engineers are already on the ground working to solve the issue,” high-speed rail operator SNCF said. “Many trains will have to be cancelled.”

No official statement has yet been given over who was behind the attacks. French officials have previously warned that Russia or political activists could seek to sabotage the Games, and have also been bracing for terror attacks. Interior minister Gérald Darmanin said earlier this week that four terror attacks targeting the Olympics had been thwarted to date.

Passengers have posted images on social media of crowded railway stations in Paris after services were largely shut down.

Transport minister Patrice Vergriete warned that trains would be affected through the weekend. “I firmly condemn these criminal acts that will disrupt many people’s travel,” he said.

Jean-Pierre Farandou, the chief executive of SNCF, said three fires were set around the same time and were discovered by staff at about 4am. Fire-starting materials were found nearby. A fourth incident targeting a southbound line was prevented by SNCF workers who came across the suspects and chased them off.

Farandou vowed to re-establish services as quickly as possible and said the SNCF would not let “a bunch of crazy, irresponsible people” stop them from doing their jobs.

Estimating that some 800,000 travellers would be affected through the weekend, he said pipes that carry electric cables had been affected, requiring painstaking work to repair. TGV high-speed trains will be redirected to ordinary lines, which will cause delays and cancellations. “It’s a manual operation, each cable then needs to be tested,” Farandou said of the repair work.

Security and transport officials had been contingency planning for such incidents in the years-long organisation of the Games, but appear to have been unable to stop them.

Some 45,000 police are already patrolling Paris and Laurent Nunez, the city’s police chief, said additional police were being sent to train stations. 

Valérie Pécresse, who heads the Ile-de-France region that is responsible for transport, said it was a “massive and co-ordinated attack” that had affected equipment that supplies electricity to the trains.

For months, European security officials have been on high alert over the threat of Russian sabotage. This spring, intelligence agencies across Nato shared covert information regarding Russian intentions to step up acts of violence against European countries.

The assessment came after several plots were foiled across the continent, and information was obtained from Russian spy rings disrupted by security officials. 

One senior European intelligence official said earlier this month that the Uefa championships in Germany and Olympic Games had been identified as particular targets. Of the two, the Games were the greater concern, he said, since Russia has attached particular importance to seeking revenge from being excluded from them. 

The Paris prosecutor’s office said an investigation into the attacks, which would be led by its organised crime division, had been opened.

The disruption on Friday hit several big lines out of Paris, including the connection to the northern city of Lille where football and basketball games will be held throughout the Games. TGVs headed north to Brussels, east to Strasbourg and west to Brittany have been affected.

Friday was also a big day for summer holiday travel, so trains were set to be crowded even without the Olympics spectators.

Eurostar warned of delays on its connections from London to Paris. “Due to a problem with the overhead power supply in France today, we advise you to postpone your trip,” the operator said. 

“Acting against the Games is acting against France, it’s acting against your own camp, your own country,” sports minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra told BFM TV, although she did not comment on the exact origin of the sabotage, which is under investigation. “These are not the Games of a government, they’re the Games of a nation.”