SNCF train traffic remains disrupted this Saturday, July 27, the day after a “massive” and “coordinated” attack against the TGV network. For the time being, this attack has not been claimed but the investigation continues to find the culprits.
The operation was allegedly “well prepared” and organized by “the same structure,” according to a source close to the investigation to AFP. During the night of Thursday 25 to Friday 26 July, fiber optic cables running near the tracks and ensuring the transmission of safety information for drivers, such as red lights and points, were cut and set on fire at various locations on the network.
“We have recovered a certain number of elements which allow us to believe that we will know fairly quickly who is responsible for what clearly did not sabotage the Olympic Games, but which sabotaged part of the French people’s holidays,” Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin declared on France 2 this Saturday.
The Paris public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into damage to property likely to harm the fundamental interests of the Nation, attacks on an automated data processing system by an organized gang and criminal association.
In total, more than fifty investigators from the gendarmerie are involved in the investigations, according to another source close to the case. In addition, samples taken from the various locations have been sent to experts from the National Gendarmerie Criminal Research Institute (IRCGN) for urgent analysis, the same source added.
Traffic will improve on Sunday
The attack, which occurred just hours before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris, when many passengers had planned to travel to the capital, caused immense chaos in train stations in the early morning. More than 800,000 passengers were affected by the damage on the Atlantique, Nord and Est high-speed lines. A malicious act was also foiled on the Sud-Est line, in Vergigny, in the Yonne, by railway workers who were carrying out maintenance operations during the night.
This Saturday, traffic resumed normally on the East high-speed line. But traffic will still be disrupted on Sunday “on the North axis”, even if it “should improve on the Atlantic axis for weekend returns”. The CEO of the SNCF, Jean-Pierre Farandou, affirmed that “everything will be restored Monday morning” to ensure the transport of the many holidaymakers.