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Furious Paris commuters take to the tracks

Paris commuters on the notorious RER B line that serves Charles de Gaulle airport finally cracked after a long delay on Monday morning, when they descended from the train and walked down the tracks in defiance. SNCF were forced to halt all traffic on the line.

Furious Paris commuters take to the tracks
Passengers on Paris's RER B line finally had enough of delays on Monday morning, when they began walking down the tracks in apparent protest at the delays. Photo: Paul Beattie/AFP

There’s only so much that passengers on Paris's notorious RER line B can take it seems.

On Monday morning after a long delay caused by a signal failure near at Châtelet, commuters, already late for work, got off the train that was blocked at Aulnay-sous-Bois and began walking along the tracks in protest.

It is not clear whether the passengers had forced the doors open or whether they were opened by SNCF staff.

With so many people on the line, SNCF were forced to suspend all trains between Gare du Nord and Charles de Gaulle airport causing widespread travel chaos.

Commuters were left furious.

“I took the RER B from Cité Universitaire at 8.24 am to go to work at Parc des Expositions at Villepinte. Normally the journey takes 44 minutes, but today it took over three hours," one told 20 Minutes website.

Others who were affected took to Twitter to express their anger. 

"To maintain good mental health, avoid taking the RER B all week!", said one tweeter.

"The #RERB is a disgrace. I remind RATP (Paris transport operators) that users pay for their transport. There's never one day without a problem," tweeted another angry passenger.

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