You have booked tickets for a train journey, but the sabotage of SNCF lines has you fearing the worst? Here is how to keep yourself informed about the status of TGV traffic and the possible cancellation of your train.
The Paris Olympics have barely started and it’s already chaos! We expected traffic to be complicated on the metro and RER side, with a massive influx of tourists, but not to this extent! This Friday, July 26, traffic is seriously disrupted in Parisian stations on the LGV Atlantique, Nord and Est networks – the lines serving the regions of Brittany, Pays de Loire, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Occitanie, Hauts-de-France and Grand Est – following several “malicious acts” occurred during the night. In particular, arson attacks were started to damage the facilities. “This is a massive attack on a large scale to paralyze the LGV network”SNCF told AFP, not hesitating to speak of “sabotage”. As a result, traffic on these three routes is being seriously disrupted, and a large number of trains will have to be cancelled. Eurostar trains are also affected.
This attack comes just hours before the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, when many travelers are planning to go to the capital. A large number of vacationers are also in transit. As a result, many travelers find themselves stuck at home or in train stations, not knowing if they will be able to take their train. According to the SNCF, around 250,000 travelers are affected this Friday, for a total of 800,000 travelers over the weekend.
SNCF sabotage: find out if a train is being maintained
“All customers will be informed by SMS of the movement of their trains”SNCF told AFP. It advises “all travelers to postpone their trip and not go to the station”specifying that all tickets are exchangeable and refundable. Some trains will still be able to run using the classic network instead of the high-speed lines (LGV), which will however cause significant delays.
So how do you know if your train is cancelled or delayed? To do this, you need to go to the page “Your stations and services” from the SNCF Gares & Connexions website. Once there, simply enter the name of the departure station in the search bar, then scroll down the page until you see the train departure table.
This table is also accessible from the MaGare SNCF application – available on android And iOS –, which allows you to receive information about your train. Here again, you just need to enter your departure station to see the timetables of the next trains that are supposed to leave from there. For a faster search, you can indicate the destination.
Note that the SNCF Connect website and app for iOS and Android also allow you to take stock. This is a platform not only dedicated to booking tickets, but also allows you to manage complaints and refunds, while providing a lot of information about delays and train cancellations (see our practical sheet).