Transportation Rail traffic in France largely back to normal after sabotage

According to the rail company SNCF, rail traffic has largely returned to normal following the serious rail sabotage on the day of the Olympic opening ceremony in France. The damage to the rail network has been repaired.

The repair work on its rail network, which was damaged by the sabotage attacks, has been "fully completed", the French railroad company announced on Sunday. As of Monday morning, there will be "no further delays" for travelers.

The situation on the main line west of Paris is "practically normal". In the north, three out of four high-speed trains were running from the French capital, with no increase in travel time from now on. Rail traffic from France to the east had already largely returned to normal on Saturday.

Around 250,000 people did not get their train

On Friday, the day of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris, acts of sabotage on fiber optic cables had paralyzed large parts of French rail traffic. Hundreds of thousands of travelers were affected, including some German Olympic participants who were unable to arrive in time for the opening ceremony.

According to the SNCF, around 250,000 people were unable to catch their train. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal spoke of a "prepared and coordinated" action in which "neuralgic points" had been targeted.

Initially, no one claimed responsibility for the acts of sabotage. The public prosecutor's office opened an investigation into damage to state interests. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin spoke of progress in the investigation on Saturday. "We have discovered a certain number of elements that allow us to think that we will soon know who is responsible", he told the France 2 television station. The destruction of the rail infrastructure "clearly did not sabotage the Olympic Games, but parts of the French population's vacations".