(BBC News) Three out of 10 French high-speed trains will be cancelled on Saturday on routes hit by a series of “co-ordinated” arson attacks.
French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said security forces continued to search for the “saboteurs” responsible after rail networks were paralyzed ahead of the opening of the Olympic Games.
National rail company SNCF said services that run on Saturday will be delayed for up to two hours on major lines running in and out of Paris, while a quarter of Eurostar services will be cancelled.
France’s transport minister said services would return to normal by Monday morning.
SNCF estimated that about 250,000 passengers were affected on Friday, while junior transport minister Patrice Vergriete said as many as 800,000 could be affected over three days.
Eurostar, which runs international services from London to Paris and uses a high-speed line in France, said one in four of its trains would not run over the weekend.
Travellers have been advised to postpone their journeys, with disruption expected to last until Monday.
Among Eurostar customers affected on Friday was Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who had planned to travel to the Games’ opening ceremony via train but was forced to fly instead.
He told the BBC: “I’m not going to pretend it wasn’t frustrating because it was, and for very many people it made travel so much harder.”