French rail authority says sabotage damage repaired, services resuming

Paris: France s national rail operator on Sunday said it had repaired damage caused by saboteurs that paralysed the train network hours before the Oly...

Paris: France's national rail operator on Sunday said it had repaired damage caused by saboteurs that paralysed the train network hours before the Olympics opening ceremony, and normal services would resume on Monday.

Train traffic on the main line west out of Paris was already "practically normal" and "three out of four" high-speed TGV trains were running on the main line north from the capital, "without any increase in travel time from now on", operator SNCF said on Sunday.

It remains unclear who carried out the three attacks on strategic points of the rail infrastructure overnight on Thursday to Friday, or if they were deliberately timed to disrupt the Games' opening spectacle later on Friday.

Tens of thousands of rail passengers struggled through two days of cancelled and delayed trains on Friday and Saturday, when 800,000 travellers were due to leave for their summer holidays.

"Thanks to the exceptional efforts of SNCF Network staff, who worked non-stop since Friday morning, repairs are now fully completed on all the high-speed rail services affected by the sabotage attacks," the operator said.