Arsonists Attack French Rail Lines, Disrupting Olympic Travel to Paris
Arsonists attacked three rail lines in France early Friday, disrupting rail service for approximately 800,000 people traveling to and from Paris and the Opening Ceremony of the Summer Olympics.
State-owned railway operator SNCF did not respond to Security Management’s request for comment on the incident, but in reporting from The Guardian it confirmed that the assault targeted high-speed (TGV) lines that connect Paris with the west, north, and east of France.
“This is a massive attack on a large scale to paralyze the TGV network,” the SNCF said. The attackers cut fiber-optic cables that run along the rail line and then set fire to them; repairs are ongoing and disruptions to rail travel are expected to continue throughout the weekend.
No group has claimed responsibility for the incident. The Paris prosecutor’s organized crime office, which typically oversees work on extreme left and right radical groups, is leading the investigation into the attack, Reuters reports.
“What we know, what we see, is that this operation was prepared, coordinated, that nerve centers were targeted, which shows a certain knowledge of the network to know where to strike,” said French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.
Maintenance workers were successful in deterring a fourth arsonist attack on the South-East line running from Paris to Marseille. SNCF CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou told the Associated Press that workers on the night shift observed intruders and alerted the police to take action.
“The attackers used incendiary devices to destroy fiber-optic communications cables that provide safety and navigation information for conductors,” explains Joe Chafetz, intelligence analyst from security firm Global Guardian. “The identity of the attackers is as of yet unknown. French security forces have indicated that the attack fits the modus operandi of far left or environmentalist militant groups who have conducted rail attacks in the past.
“However, the simultaneously executed sabotage would represent an unprecedented level of sophistication and coordination for these actors,” Chafetz continues. “The attack is more consistent, in our assessment, with Russian-linked acts of sabotage, which have become a regular occurrence throughout Europe in the past several months. Russia has conducted attacks on previous Olympic Games, wherein they obfuscated their responsibility, instead fabricating evidence of another actor’s—North Korea’s—culpability.”
⚠️Suite à cette attaque massive visant à paralyser le réseau des lignes à grande vitesse, un grand nombre de trains sont détournés ou supprimés. Les voyageurs concernés seront contactés par mail ou SMS. Nous demandons à tous les voyageurs qui le peuvent de reporter leur voyage et… https://t.co/yt5cCtHSqW
— SNCF Voyageurs (@SNCFVoyageurs) July 26, 2024
The attack affected the TGV Atlantic, TGV East, TGV North, and Eurostar lines. In a statement on its website posted Friday, Eurostar said that all high-speed trains going to and coming from Paris are being diverted via the Classic line.
“This extends the journey time by around an hour and a half,” the statement said. “Several trains have been cancelled. Eurostar’s teams are fully mobilized in stations, in the call centers, and onboard to assist and ensure our passengers are fully informed.”
Miki Shifman, chief technology officer at rail cybersecurity company Cylus, says that the attack appears to have targeted the cabling systems that French railways use. The cabling supports the automated signaling system that rail operators use to synchronize trains for safety, ensuring that no two trains are on the same track, optimizing traffic, and allowing trains to slow properly.
“If there’s disruption on the tracks or in those systems, there will be some sort of ripple effect,” Shifman says. “Like when one train stops in one place, causing a delay to many other trains on the track—causing more delays.”
Disrupting this automated system can force rail operators to turn to manual solutions—such as having human operators speak to control centers, providing commands on how to move forward. This is not ideal, however, because it can slow the system and pose safety risks, Shifman explains.
Harry Arruda, CEO of risk management firm and executive protection provider Cooke & Associates, says that the arson attacks, labor strikes, transportation issues, and increasing security measures in Paris underscore the critical need for comprehensive contingency planning.
His firm has agents on the ground in Paris, and Arruda adds that they have witnessed the importance of advance planning that looks beyond the Olympics’ events themselves, as well as the challenges of navigating an environment affected by a variety of disruptions.
For instance, nearly every day of this past week in the lead-up to the Opening Ceremony, Arruda says additional security measures have been deployed—including special forces and security cordons. While necessary, these measures have impacted travel routes and access to key locations, emphasizing the importance of having a well-coordinated plan for navigating and adapting to evolving conditions.
“Our agents have observed some executive protection teams struggling not due to a lack of skill, but because they did not conduct a thorough advance or failed to account for the full scope of possible disruptions at this year’s Olympics,” Arruda says. “This includes not only physical security measures, but also cyber and technological components. Protestors and labor unions were extremely open about their intent to protest and strike during the Olympics; however, many appear to not have taken them seriously.”
Security planning and a successful executive protection detail must extend beyond the traditional boundaries of running routes and prechecking in the principal to their hotel room, he adds.
“The current disruptions, such as the unexpected road closures around Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports and the suspension of rail services from key stations like Gare de Lyon, Paris Austerlitz, and Paris Bercy, have significant implications for travel and logistics,” Arruda explains. “Many were caught off guard by these changes, highlighting the need for meticulous advance planning.
“The ongoing strikes by hospitality workers and the anticipated air traffic controller strikes are additional layers of complexity,” he continues. “With these disruptions, planning must encompass both the immediate security environment and the broader logistical challenges, ensuring that EP teams are prepared for a range of scenarios.”
Some high-speed rail lines had resumed operations as of Security Management's press time, but SNCF told The New York Times to expect disruptions to rail travel throughout the weekend as repairs continue.
The amount of time repairs to fully restore rail service will depend on what exactly was damaged, Shifman says. If it’s limited to the cables, repair crews will simply need to replace them. If the damage extends to the systems supported by those cables, repairs will involve replacing the cables and activating back-ups.
“It really depends on what was exactly the damage,” Shifman says. “But still, it takes time. It requires workers to work along the tracks, that will probably stop operations or at least reduce the capacity significantly.”
As part of its preparation for the Olympics, SNCF said it anticipated 500,000 spectators per day to travel to competition venues around Paris. The rail system was increasing its capacity by 15 percent and operating an additional 4,500 trains to prepare for this demand, since 79 percent of the Olympic sites across France will be served by the SNCF and its subsidiaries.
“Over the course of the Games, 300 extra trains will run each day, with service beginning three hours before the start of competition and at the end of each day’s proceedings,” SNCF explained in its plans for the Olympics.
SNCF also installed intrusion prevention systems on its “most vulnerable network components” and made its “power supply more resilient” to be prepared to handle the influx of travelers during the Games. It also implemented a new maintenance program, which included new methods for sourcing key parts and keeping backup trainsets in reserve.
Meanwhile, Olympic organizers were moving ahead with preparations for the Opening Ceremony on the Seine River that runs through Paris. About 100 world leaders and 6,800 athletes are expected to attend the event.
