2024 France railway arson attacks explained

Location:LGV Atlantique
LGV Nord
LGV Est
LGV Sud-Est
Date:26 July 2024
Time-Begin:01:00 AM[1]
Time-End:05:30 AM
Timezone:CEST
Type:Arson
Fatalities:None[2]
Injuries:None
Perpetrators:Unknown

On 26 July 2024, the day of the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, a series of arson attacks damaged the LGV Atlantique, Nord, and Est lines of the French high-speed railway system.[3] International and domestic rail services were widely disrupted, with around 800,000 passengers affected. There was also an attempted attack on LGV Sud-Est line, though it was interrupted by TGV maintenance workers who happened to be on site.[4]

Background

See main article: Transportation during the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.

A previous attack was avoided on 8 May during the arrival of the Olympic flame in Marseille,[5] when police found four incendiary devices on the LGV Méditerranée line between Aix and Marseille.[1]

Attacks

Four signal boxes along the lines connecting Paris with cities such as Lille in the north, Bordeaux in the west and Strasbourg in the east were damaged, while an attack on the LGV Sud-Est line was interrupted.[4] Eurostar later confirmed that they had cancelled one in four trains as the arson attacks caused high-speed rail disruption. Apart from international trains, domestic rail services were also widely disrupted.[6] It is estimated that 800,000 passengers were affected.[7]

Sabotage sites

  1. LGV Atlantique: near Arrou (neighbouring town of Courtalain)[8]
  2. LGV Est Européenne: between the Meuse TGV station and Lamorville[8]
  3. LGV Est Européenne: near Pagny-sur-Moselle[8]
  4. LGV Nord: near Croisilles[8]
  5. LGV Sud-Est: near Vergigny, foiled by railway workers.[9]

Effects

Three high-speed lines were impacted:

Eurostar was forced to cancel a quarter of its trains from 26 to 28 July. The trains that were running were diverted via conventional lines and ran at reduced speed, which extended the journey by approximately one and a half hours.

More than 800,000 travelers were directly impacted including 250,000 on 26 July.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer originally planned to travel by Eurostar for the Olympics opening ceremony; however, he flew instead due to delays and cancellations caused by the arson attacks.[10]

Investigation

The Paris prosecutor opened a probe into a suspected bid to undermine "fundamental national interests". The intelligence services and law enforcement were mobilized to find and punish the perpetrators.

On 25 July, the Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz had warned his French counterpart about a plot backed by Iranian terrorist proxies to derail the events.[11] Iran denied these allegations before and after the attack.[12] [13]

On 28 July 2024, a man referred to as an "ultra-left militant" was arrested in north-west France after being found behaving suspiciously near a railway site, with keys to technical premises, pliers, a set of universal keys and literature "linked to the ultra-left" found within his car. However, there was no indication at the time of his arrest that he is linked to the earlier attacks. France's Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin told the media that the methods employed were traditional of the ultra-left, providing a possible connection.[14]

Reactions

The French sports minister, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, expressed her outrage at the vandalism and said that targeting the games was equivalent to targeting France itself.[15] French prime minister Gabriel Attal pledged to "find and punish" those responsible for "paralysing" the connectivity by sabotage attacks ahead of the evening's opening ceremony.[16] The French transport minister, Patrice Vergriete, warned of "very serious consequences" for rail traffic throughout the weekend, with connections towards northern, eastern, and northwestern France being halved.[15]

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: Becq. Coralie. "Attaque massive" sur le réseau SNCF : un acte malveillant déjoué sur l'axe Sud-Est. "Massive attack" on the SNCF network. 2024-07-26 . France 3 Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. 2024-07-26. 27 July 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240727105058/https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/provence-alpes-cote-d-azur/bouches-du-rhone/marseille/attaque-sur-le-reseau-sncf-un-acte-dejoue-sur-l-axe-sud-est-3010247.html. live. fr.
  2. News: Chutel . Lynsey . What We Know About the Attacks on France's Rail Network . 26 July 2024 . The New York Times . 26 July 2024 . 27 July 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240727005456/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/26/world/europe/frances-rail-network-attacks-paris-olympics.html . live .
  3. News: Arson disrupts France's high-speed trains hours before Olympics, officials say . 26 July 2024 . Bisset . Victoria . Noack . Rick . . 26 July 2024.
  4. Web site: 26 July 2024 . 'Criminal' attack on France's high-speed train network . 26 July 2024 . France24.
  5. Web site: INFO BFMTV. "Sabotage" SNCF: un engin incendiaire déjà retrouvé sur la LGV Sud-Est lors du passage de la flamme à Marseille . 2024-07-27 . BFMTV . fr.
  6. Web site: Phillips . Jacob . Mata . William . 2024-07-26 . Eurostars cancelled as arson attack sparks travel chaos ahead of Olympics - live . 2024-07-26 . The Standard . en . 27 July 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240727001448/https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/france-trains-live-eurostar-olympic-games-arson-paris-opening-ceremony-b1173040.html . live .
  7. Web site: French rail network hit by arson attacks before Olympics opening ceremony. 26 July 2024. 26 July 2024. The Guardian. 27 July 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240727105059/https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/jul/26/vandals-target-french-rail-network-olympics-opening-ceremony. live.
  8. Web site: 26 July 2024 . Le trafic de TGV en France commence à reprendre après des perturbations liées à des 'actes de malveillance' . TGV traffic in France begins to resume after disruptions linked to 'malicious acts' . 26 July 2024 . RTS . 27 July 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240727105100/https://www.rts.ch/info/monde/2024/article/le-trafic-de-tgv-en-france-commence-a-reprendre-apres-des-perturbations-liees-a-des-actes-de-malveillance-28580949.html . live .
  9. Web site: Adamson . Thomas . Schaeffer . Jeffrey . 2024-07-26 . Arsonists attack French high-speed rail system hours before opening ceremonies of the Paris Olympics . 2024-07-28 . AP News . en . 27 July 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240727095209/https://apnews.com/article/france-trains-olympics-74c9727d33ac86bfc126f98e45cb874f . live .
  10. Web site: 26 July 2024 . France's rail traffic disrupted by 'malicious acts' on morning of Olympic opening ceremony . 26 July 2024 . . 26 July 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240726083532/https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2024/07/26/france-s-high-speed-trains-struck-by-malicious-acts_6699471_7.html . live .
  11. Web site: 25 July 2024 . Israel warns France of Iran-backed plot . 26 July 2024 . Reuters.
  12. Web site: 2024-07-26 . Tehran reacts to anti-Iran Israeli claims in Olympics 2024 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240726063935/https://en.mehrnews.com/news/218385/Tehran-reacts-to-anti-Iran-Israeli-claims-in-Olympics-2024 . 26 July 2024 . 2024-07-26 . Mehr News Agency . en.
  13. Web site: Izadi . Ali . 2024-07-26 . FM Spox undermines Zionists' accusations against Iran regarding Olympics . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240727105603/https://en.irna.ir/news/85549507/FM-Spox-undermines-Zionists-accusations-against-Iran-regarding . 27 July 2024 . 2024-07-26 . IRNA English . en.
  14. News: Gozzi . Lauren . Man arrested in France over suspected railway vandalism . 29 July 2024 . BBC News . 29 July 2024.
  15. Web site: 26 July 2024 . Criminal act on high speed train network . 26 July 2024 . The Times of India . 27 July 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240727105606/https://gum.criteo.com/syncframe?origin=criteoPrebidAdapter&topUrl=timesofindia.indiatimes.com&gpp= . live .
  16. Web site: 26 July 2024 . PM vows to 'find and punish' Olympics saboteurs . 26 July 2024 . The Telegraph . 26 July 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240726084721/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/07/26/france-trains-sabotage-olympics/ . live .

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