[imagesource:oliversfrance]

France’s state railways company SNCF has said that the country’s high-speed railways have been targetted by several “malicious” acts on Friday in what has been described as “coordinated sabotage” to disrupt travel ahead of the Opening Ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games.

The acts have affected the Atlantic, Northern and Eastern high-speed lines, with damage caused to several of its facilities. SNCF said one of the acts was “foiled.”

Workers are onsite to oversee repairs, but several of the major trains have been diverted or cancelled, and SNCF says the interruptions are likely to last the entire weekend. The Rémi Train Centre Val de Loire has also said their train lines will be disrupted until at least Monday, with a fire near the tracks in Courtalain in northern France causing disruptions for travel to Paris.

“We ask all travelers to postpone their trip and not to go to the station.”

Disruption to the rail network comes at the worst possible time as the Olympic opening ceremony is scheduled to take place in just hours.

The French Minister of Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Amélie Oudéa-Castera said the disruption to the train lines is “a sort of coordinated sabotage.” He condemned the attacks in the “strongest possible terms,” and said it is “truly appalling.”

“Playing against the Games is playing against France, against your camp, against your country.”

“We will assess the impacts on travelers, athletes, and ensure the proper transport of all delegations to the competition sites.”

The disruptions have realised concerns over possible security threats during the Olympics as millions of visitors and thousands of athletes will flock to Paris. France has gone to great lengths to boost security around the event, but there are still too many unknowns about potential protests, cyber-attacks, and even terrorism.

France plans to deploy around 35,000 police each day during the Games, peaking at 45,000 for the Opening Ceremony, a spokesperson at the French interior ministry told CNN.

One of the more bizarre security threats that have been investigated thus far was that of a ‘Russian reality TV chef accused of being a spy to sabotage Paris Olympics before he was busted for being too drunk.’

The Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics is set to take place today and will be the first ever held on a river.

[source:cnn]