It was not immediately clear who was behind the suspected attacks and authorities did not announce any arrests. Prosecutors opened the investigation within the framework of organized crime rather than a counter-terrorism investigation, suggesting that a range of individuals and groups, including political activists, may be involved.
No injuries were reported, but French authorities said the impact on travellers ahead of the Olympics and on the country's reputation was severe. “The impact on the rail network is huge and serious,” Attal said in a post on X, adding that “our intelligence and law enforcement agencies have been mobilised to find and punish the perpetrators of these criminal acts.”
Questions about security have been raised at the Olympics and the city has been on high alert, but Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said on Friday that the attack would have “no impact” on the opening ceremony because the city's transport network was not affected.
By early Friday afternoon local time, services had started to resume on some affected lines, with a third of trains running on transatlantic routes and hour-long delays on other lines, national rail company SNCF said.
The French rail network was an apparent target ahead of the opening ceremony, with SNCF making tickets unavailable for purchase to and from Paris this Friday in the weeks leading up to the Olympics, citing a lack of clarity about security measures.
SNCF said the “malicious acts” on Friday targeted three of its high-speed train lines, which were expected to carry around 250,000 passengers on Friday and 800,000 over the weekend.
“The arson attack was launched with the aim of damaging our facilities,” SNCF said. The company said its Atlantic, northern and eastern high-speed lines were affected and advised passengers to postpone their journeys. SNCF said it had also thwarted a separate “malicious act” targeting its southeastern lines. The company noted that some disruptions were expected to continue until Monday.
The last weekend of July is usually one of France's busiest travel periods as Parisians head off on holiday. Unlike previous years, many travelers were expected to head to the capital to take part in the opening ceremonies and Olympic events in just a few days.
“There has been damage and deliberate fires on pipes that carry many signalling cables,” SNCF President Jean-Pierre Farandou told reporters. “We have to repair each cable one by one. It's a very delicate job.”
Farandou said all repaired signals also need to be tested before rail service can resume, “and that's going to take time.”
The Paris prosecutor's office said on Friday that authorities were investigating. Prosecutors are looking into charges including “damage to property affecting the fundamental interests of the State” and “attacks on automated data processing systems,” both of which could lead to lengthy prison sentences.
Former French prime minister and Paris transport chief Jean Castex ordered a “higher level of alert” across the capital's transport network. “We are deploying a state of alert in all areas,” he said, according to France's national radio, with a particular focus on “the more sensitive parts of our transport network.”
Eurostar, one of the main transport links from Britain to continental Europe, also announced delays due to “coordinated acts of vandalism in France affecting the high-speed rail line between Paris and Lille,” and said trains arriving in France were an hour and a half behind schedule. The company advised travellers to postpone travel and said a quarter of its train routes had been suspended over the weekend.
Officials said they were assessing the impact on travelers and athletes taking part in the games.
Transport Minister Patrice Vergliette strongly condemned the so-called “coordinated” act, telling BFM television that an investigation was ongoing but that the coordinated timing of the events suggested the fire was “criminal” in nature.
“At this stage, it is probably one or several acts of vandalism, a kind of organised sabotage,” France's Sports Minister Amélie Oudea Castellas told Le Parisien newspaper. “We will assess today the impact on tourists, athletes and this weekend.”
SNCF said it had teams on the scene to assess the problem and begin repairs. “Some trains are being diverted and a number of services have been cancelled,” the company said.
Attal expressed his gratitude to “the firefighters who worked at the scene of the disaster” and “the SNCF staff carrying out the necessary work to restore the network”, as well as to affected travellers “for their patience, understanding and the civic spirit they have shown”.
There have been previous suspected arson attacks on rail systems in France and other European countries, usually attributed to criminals and sometimes political activists, but the scale of the incidents and their timing during the Olympic Games have shed new light on the recent incidents.
Security has been a major priority in the run up to the Paris Games, and while most of the preparations have been kept secret, plans have been announced to deploy 15,000 soldiers, 35,000 police officers and 22,000 private contractors in and around stadiums and sports venues across the country.
The main security concern was expected to be a terrorist attack like those in Paris in 2015 or Nice in 2016, but there was also the fear of a cyberattack. France's cybersecurity agency quickly issued a statement on Friday saying there was no cyber component to the train disruption.
Concerns have also been raised over reports that Russia is funding amateur saboteurs to carry out operations across Europe. French police on Tuesday detained a Russian national on suspicion of plotting to cause “destabilization” during the Olympics, the prosecutor's office said.
Tensions in the Middle East have also played a major role in security considerations for the Olympics. Armed guards escorted the Israeli team to their opening soccer match against Mali on Wednesday amid ongoing protests against the war in the Gaza Strip. There have also been online threats against the Israeli team, evoking memories of a terrorist attack that killed Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
There were also bomb scare and false alarms.
Friday's attack so far appears to be having less of an impact on Parisians fleeing the capital to start the country's sacred traditional August holidays than on the Olympics.
Héloïse Lucat sat on the floor of Gare Montparnasse, the Paris train station hardest hit by the chaos, with her large suitcase and her three-year-old daughter, Leonie, on the floor in front of her.
They had planned to visit Luca's mother in the Basque Country during their August holidays, which coincided with the Olympics this year. But overnight chaos meant the 10:15am train was cancelled, leaving Luca desperate to find a bus, car or any other way to get out of Paris. Léonie was keen to see her cousins, Luca says. “We'll try to find a good solution and see what happens.”
Bisset reported from London. Claire Parker in Paris and Paul Scheme in London contributed to this report.
