Railway workers repair damage to a cable duct at Vald'Yerre south-west of Paris.

                    Railway workers repair damage to a cable duct at Vald'Yerre south-west of Paris

Who Could Have Attacked France's High-Speed Rail?

Railway workers repair damage to a cable duct at Vald'Yerre south-west of Paris.

                    For France's Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, the man tasked with securing the Paris Olympics, the sabotage attacks on the high-speed rail network are a severe blow. He has vowed that those responsible for attacking France's high-speed rail will be quickly arrested, but so far, there has been no indication of who might be to blame. Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra assured that the culprits were not going to spoil the party, but the attackers struck the TGV network just hours before the opening ceremony, causing chaos for travellers and exposing the vulnerability of a symbol of France's technical prowess.

Who Could Have Attacked France's High-Speed Rail?

Caretaker Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has advised caution in drawing conclusions, but he noted that those behind the attack on France's high-speed rail network clearly had a good understanding of what would cause the most damage. Suspicion immediately fell on ultra-left radicals, based on security sources briefing French media. However, no group has claimed responsibility for attacking France's high-speed rail. The methods used to set fire to critical optical fibres and other cables in ducts along the rail network in the early hours of Friday were reminiscent of previous attacks by the extreme left.

Who Could Have Attacked France's High-Speed Rail?

When cable ducts were set alight beside railway lines near Hamburg in Germany last September, an anonymous claim appeared on a left-wing website condemning "capitalist infrastructure". This is inconclusive, of course, because the broad nature of the attacks on France's high-speed rail network suggests a degree of coordination across four distinct regions that would not normally be associated with the extreme left. Nevertheless, whoever targeted the rail lines stretching out of Paris in the early hours of 26 July clearly had the Olympic Games in their sights.

Who Could Have Attacked France's High-Speed Rail?

The sabotage of France's high-speed rail network played havoc with the Paris Olympics opening. The big TGV arteries to the north, east, and west were all choked off, and the high-speed line to the southeast would have been brought to a halt if not for an alert crew of engineers who, by chance, spotted a team of saboteurs in vans. Regional forces are collecting evidence under the overall command of the national police, the national gendarmerie, and the anti-terrorist SDAT. Their biggest hope in identifying who attacked France's high-speed rail may lie in tracking down the failed saboteurs who fled the scene near Vergigny, leaving their intact incendiary devices behind.


Who Could Have Attacked France's High-Speed Rail?

There have been previous attacks on French railways, including one in January 2023 east of Paris. Another incident emerged in early May 2024 on the high-speed line to the south, just outside Aix-en-Provence. This attack bears the most similarity to Friday's sabotage of France's high-speed rail network, as it reportedly took place on the day the Olympic flame arrived by ship in the southern port of Marseille. No arrests have been made yet, but even though it was a botched attempt involving makeshift petrol-bombs, France's security services will be looking at potential links to that attack.

Who Could Have Attacked France's High-Speed Rail?

Earlier this year, the interior minister warned of an extremely high "external" threat, potentially of the type of jihadist attack inflicted on Crocus City Hall in Moscow in March. France has been a victim of a wave of deadly jihadist attacks in recent years, but none resemble the acts of sabotage on France's high-speed rail network. While Friday's incidents caused misery for hundreds of thousands of travellers, there was no bloodshed. Suspicion will inevitably fall on Russia as well, a country engaged in a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and a high-profile campaign of disinformation against France.

Who Could Have Attacked France's High-Speed Rail?

Pro-Kremlin social media accounts have shared a video smearing the Paris Games, ridiculing the quality of water in the River Seine, and attacking President Emmanuel Macron and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo. Macron is loathed in Moscow because of his outspoken support for Ukraine. Although Russia has always denied interference, French officials suspect Moscow's hand in a series of recent incidents aimed at destabilising the French capital. From red hands daubed on the Holocaust Memorial to graffiti on buildings suggesting their balconies might collapse, these acts raise questions about who could have attacked France's high-speed rail.

Who Could Have Attacked France's High-Speed Rail?

Only this week, a Russian was arrested in Paris on suspicion of planning acts of "destabilisation, interference, and spying". The Kremlin described media reports on the man as "quite curious" but said it had not been directly informed about the arrest. However, this does not necessarily implicate Russia in Friday's coordinated attack on France's high-speed rail network. Whoever was behind the sabotage knew exactly where to cause maximum disruption, and Russia might not have that kind of reach in rural France.

       The Olympic flame arrived in the Marseille in early May

 

Who Could Have Attacked France's High-Speed Rail?

The head of the state-owned rail company SNCF, Jean-Pierre Farandou, said the saboteurs focused on intersections that would cause the most serious impact. The arson attack at Courtalain cut off two high-speed lines on the Atlantic artery, one heading west towards Brittany and another towards Bordeaux in the southwest. The eastern attack knocked out high-speed lines to Metz in one direction and Strasbourg in another. One French security expert, Romain de Calbiac, told the BBC's Newshour programme that the attack was remarkably well-planned.

Who Could Have Attacked France's High-Speed Rail?

"The French security forces and the entire intelligence community are very concerned that the saboteurs might have received internal help from people working with or partnering with the railway network in France," de Calbiac said. "Another option is that this information came from foreign states with knowledge of how the French network works." Earlier this year, SNCF highlighted an increase in attacks on the rail network and said it was constantly on the lookout for acts of sabotage, particularly in the run-up to the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Who Could Have Attacked France's High-Speed Rail?

Although the company detected all the attacks on its systems, it could only prevent one from causing significant damage, and that was by sheer luck. "Today should have been a party," said Jean-Pierre Farandou. "All that is ruined." The sabotage of France's high-speed rail network is a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure, especially with the Paris Olympics underway. The question of who could have attacked France's high-speed rail remains unanswered, but the investigation continues, and the culprits will hopefully be brought to justice soon.