PARIS July 26. 2024 (Saba) - French railway company SNCF said on Friday that high-speed train lines were vandalized, hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
AFP quoted a source familiar with the matter as saying the sabotage was "clearly coordinated", after the company announced on Thursday night that it had been subjected to a "massive large-scale attack aimed at paralyzing" its high-speed train network.
The company said cables operating high-speed train tracks had been burned and 800,000 passengers had been "vandalized".
It noted that disruptions in high-speed trains could continue throughout at least the weekend.
Reuters also quoted high-speed train operator Eurostar as saying that flights to and from Paris had been cancelled and diverted after the sabotage.
French Transport Minister Patrice Fargerat said targeting high-speed train lines would disrupt movement until the end of the week.
In anticipation of any security threat, the French authorities mobilized 45,000 police and gendarmerie officers, and 18,000 soldiers, as well as completely closed the airspace within a 150-kilometer radius around Paris, from half past six in the evening until midnight.
E.M
resource : Saba