The Paris Olympics will officially begin today i.e. on July 26 with a grand opening ceremony in the heart of the city. However, an attack by vandals on France's high-speed TGV rail network has highlighted security concerns.
Ahead of the opening ceremony, the high-speed rail traffic to the French capital was severely disrupted. Officials described them as “criminal actions” and sabotage.
Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete in a post on X wrote, “Coordinated malicious acts targeted several TGV lines last night and will seriously disrupt traffic until this weekend. I strongly condemn these criminal actions which will compromise the vacation departures of many French people. A big thank you to the #SNCF teams, on the bridge to restore traffic conditions as quickly as possible.”
As per a Reuters report, travel to and from London beneath the English Channel, to neighbouring Belgium, and across the west, north, and east of France was affected by what the French national rail company SNCF called a series of coordinated overnight incidents.
According to the agency, there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the incident, nor was there any indication of a political motive behind it.
Condemning the vandalism, Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera said, "It's completely appalling," she told BFMTV. “To target the games is to target France.”
According to an Associated Press report, the French national rail company SNCF stated that it is uncertain when traffic will resume and expects disruptions to persist throughout the weekend.
SNCF teams “were already on site to carry out diagnostics and begin repairs,” but the “situation should last at least all weekend while the repairs are carried out,” it said.
It further advised “all passengers to postpone their journey and not to go to the station,” specifying in its press release that all tickets were exchangeable and refundable," as quoted by AP.
(With all inputs from Reuters and AP)
