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French rail authority says sabotage damage repaired, services resuming

France's national rail operator on Sunday said it had repaired damage caused by saboteurs that paralysed the train network hours before the Olympics opening ceremony, and normal services would resume on Monday.

French rail authority says sabotage damage repaired, services resuming
Travellers wait at the Part-Dieu railway station in Lyon after TGV train services were severely disrupted between Paris and southeastern France due to sabotage. Photo: JEFF PACHOUD/AFP.

Train traffic on the main line west out of Paris was already “practically normal” and “three out of four” high-speed TGV trains were running on the main line north from the capital, “without any increase in travel time from now on”, operator SNCF said on Sunday.

It remains unclear who carried out the three attacks on strategic points of the rail infrastructure overnight on Thursday to Friday, or if they were deliberately timed to disrupt the Games’ opening spectacle later on Friday.

Tens of thousands of rail passengers struggled through two days of cancelled and delayed trains on Friday and Saturday, when 800,000 travellers were due to leave for their summer holidays.

“Thanks to the exceptional efforts of SNCF Network staff, who worked non-stop since Friday morning, repairs are now fully completed on all the high-speed rail services affected by the sabotage attacks,” the operator said.

“Tests have been conclusive and the train lines are now able to function as normal.

“There will be no more disruption from Monday morning onwards,” it said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the meticulously planned night-time attacks. Maintenance workers thwarted a fourth.

Search for perpetrators

A source close to the Paris judicial authority, which has launched an investigation, said the attacks had all been carried out by “the same entity”.

A statement signed by “an unexpected delegation” was sent to several news media outlets expressing support for the sabotage and criticising the Olympic Games as being a “celebration of nationalism” and the oppression of peoples by nation states.

But sources close to the investigation said it was simply a message of support, rather than a claim of responsibility per se, gave no details of the attacks and contained “nothing particularly serious”.

“We have uncovered a certain number of elements that allow us to think that we will soon know who is responsible for what clearly did not sabotage the Olympic Games but did sabotage part of the holidays of the French people,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told France 2 television on Saturday.

French authorities are on high alert for a potential terrorist attack during the Games, which run until August 11.

Tens of thousands of police and soldiers have been placed on security duties during the Olympics.

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TRAVEL NEWS

Eurostar says may scrap links to Amsterdam from 2025

Eurostar's chief has threatened to scrap the rail route to the Netherlands from 2025 because of doubts over when Amsterdam's international terminal will reopen.

Eurostar says may scrap links to Amsterdam from 2025

“Could the Netherlands be temporarily cut off from one of the most essential rail links in Europe?” Gwendoline Cazenave asked in an editorial for Dutch business daily Het Financieele Dagblad on Wednesday.

The Dutch network was suffering “reliability problems, capacity restrictions and delays that are particularly inconvenient for passengers”, she argued.

The company could cut both its Amsterdam-Rotterdam-London and Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Paris routes in 2025, Cazanave’s editorial said.

“In the absence of clarity from the Dutch rail network (…), Eurostar will be forced to suspend connections between Amsterdam-Rotterdam and London and Paris during 2025”, warns Gwendoline Cazenave.

With Amsterdam’s main station undergoing extensive work since June the direct London route has temporarily closed.

Cazenave said that on various sections of track Eurostar trains had been forced to halve their speed to 80 kph since November.

Since the direct route to London was halted for a scheduled six months through to year’s end, passengers have had to disembark in Brussels for passport control before completing their journey.

The Amsterdam upgrade was meant to take six months, but Eurostar has deplored what it says is the lack of guarantees on a resumption date.

“Eurostar is fully prepared to reopen direct connections at the beginning of 2025, as planned,” said Cazenave.

But other work has also been announced from early 2025 in the station, which would limit the availability of platforms, she added. The London connection requires the station to also provide border control services, as since Brexit the lines crosses an EU external border. 

In 2023, Eurostar said it had carried a total 4.2 million passengers between the Netherlands and France, Britain and Belgium.

French national railway operator SNCF Voyageurs holds a majority stake in Eurostar.

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