Friday’s attacks were launched as the French capital was under heavy security ahead of the Games opening ceremony, with 300,000 spectators and an audience of VIPs expected at the event.

What was targeted?

Fires that affected France’s Atlantic, northern and eastern lines led to cancellations and delays at a time of particularly heavy traffic for summer holiday travel.

The below map shows how arson attacks were positioned to affect three of France’s four main high-speed rail axes – the fourth was spared only because an attempted attacked was foiled.

A map of today's sabotage of train lines in #France pic.twitter.com/13mP7pyvs5

— Michael A. Horowitz (@michaelh992) July 26, 2024

“Early this morning, coordinated and prepared acts of sabotage were perpetrated against installations of SNCF,” the national rail operator, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said.

SNCF chief executive Jean-Pierre Farandou said the attackers had started fires in “conduits carrying multiple (fibre-optic) cables” that relay “safety information for drivers” or control the motors for points that change rails.

Who is affected?

Around 800,000 passengers are expected to be affected over the weekend as the damage is heavy and labour-intensive to repair.

France’s rail network was expected to be busy this weekend, not only due to the Olympics but also as people return from or leave for their summer holidays.

“There are huge and serious consequences for the rail network,” added Attal.

Around half of services on the affected lines are expected to be cancelled and the Eurostar – which used the high-speed line between Paris and Lille – was also affected with around a quarter of trains cancelled.

You can find all the latest on the services affected HERE.

Farandou of SNCF said: “There’s a huge number of bundled cables. We have to repair them one by one, it’s a manual operation” requiring “hundreds of workers”.

It is expected that normal services will resume on Monday.

Who are the culprits?

SNCF CEO Farandou said railway workers doing night maintenance in central France had spotted unauthorised people, who fled when the workers called in police.

France’s intelligence services were scrambling to determine the perpetrators of the sabotage, a security source told AFP. The arson method used resembled past attacks by extreme-left actors, the source added.

SNCF bosses added that the method of the attack suggested intimate knowledge of the French rail network.

In September, arson attacks on conduits holding railway cables caused travel chaos in northern Germany, with a claim of responsibility posted to an extreme-left website.

Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement her office had opened a probe into a suspected bid to undermine “fundamental national interests”.

The investigation will also look at suspected damage inflicted by an organised gang and attacks on an automated data processing system.

Her statement described the acts of sabotage as “deliberate damage caused to sites of SNCF on the night of July 25-26, 2024.”

Keep up with the latest developments HERE.