FRANCE: Surveillance of the rail network has been stepped up using human and technical resources on the ground and in the air following the large-scale disruption caused by carefully targeted sabotage on July 26, the opening day of the Paris Olympic Games.
Around 1 000 maintenance staff have been mobilised to monitor the network, along with 40 railway police teams and 50 drones.
The police investigation has a number of potential leads, but in a press conference on July 30 Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said it was too early to know who undertook the attacks and why.
The saboteurs attacked signalling cables at Courtalain, Croisilles and Pagny-sur-Moselle, key points on the Atlantique, Nord and Est high speed lines. A similar attack on LGV Sud-Est was foiled.
High speed train services were severely disrupted for the following weekend, with some diverted onto conventional lines leading to many delays and cancellations.
Infrastructure manager SNCF Réseau launched a major operation to repair the damage, with staff working overnight in heavy rain. Traffic was able to restart on LGV Est the following day and a full service was restored across the network on July 29.
