On the eve of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris, the arson of relay cabinets stopped the movement on several directions of the railway network, reports France info. Affected about 800 thousand passengers who will have to wait at least until Monday.
The relay cabinets at Courtalenay in the Aire et Loire department are one of the points on the high-speed railroad where the arson attack took place this night. In the morning, railroad workers recorded serious damage and began repairs, while investigators began taking initial statements.
The high-speed rail network was subjected to a sabotage of unprecedented strength and scope: no fewer than four arson attacks were set in the departments of Pas-de-Calais, Meuse, Meurthe and Moselle, Ayr and Loire, and a fifth failed in the department of Yonne. In the morning, the Minister of Transportation called such actions “criminal”:
PATRICE VERGRIET, Minister-Delegate for Transportation: We strongly condemn such sabotage and, of course, we think of all the families because today is a day of going on vacation, a day of departure for many people.
The consequences of such a sabotage operation are being felt on all railroad lines. The most affected is the Montparnasse station in Paris, where trains go to Brittany and the southwest of the country. Here all communication is paralyzed, trains will depart not earlier than one o’clock in the afternoon. Thousands of passengers are stranded.
PASSENGER: I’m not happy because I’m going to Toulouse for a funeral and because I’m late, I regret that I won’t be able to support my family.
It’s the same situation at many train stations, for example in Lille.
OTHER PASSENGER: I was supposed to go to Paris for the (opening ceremony. – Inotv) of the Olympic Games, where I work. I was expected at 11 o’clock.
THIRD PASSENGER: I work in Brest, I live there, and here I was stuck in a foreign Lille with no way to get home.
The stoppage has affected about 800,000 passengers, who, as the rail service said, will have to wait until at least Monday. For its part, the Paris prosecutor’s office announced it had opened a case. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the sabotage.
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