Around 100 high-speed train journeys were disrupted in France on Monday after cables were targeted in an apparent arson attack.
Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said on social media that cables had been “intentionally set on fire” overnight just south of the south-eastern city of Valence.
The incident has affected France’s most heavily frequented main line connecting the capital Paris to the southern port city of Marseille.
National railway operator SNCF said 16 cables had to be replaced across a stretch of line measuring 25 meters (27 yards), and that regular services would likely not be fully restored until Tuesday morning.
“Our teams on the ground estimate that repair work will last until early evening,” a spokesperson told the AFP news agency.
There was no immediate information on who the culprits might have been.
‘Welcome to the jungle’
In Paris, long queues formed at the Gare de Lyon station, where passengers were trying to rebook trains to the southern port city of Marseille, all of which had been canceled.
“I hope to get my money back and take a bus,” said Lina, a German student who had been hoping to travel to Barcelona on Monday but was told she had to disembark her train in Paris.
“Welcome to the jungle,” joked a railway employee in Marseille, where passers-by stopped to stare at queues sneaking out from the station ticket office.
Monday’s incident was just the latest in a series of disruptions to railway lines in France.
In June, the theft of cables in northern France disrupted Eurostar traffic between London and Paris for a few days.
And in March, the discovery and defusal of a 500-kilogram World War II bomb outside Paris left thousands of passengers stranded in the capital.
