TGV and international rail services to and from French capital halted for several hours after attempted theft of electric cable
A fire suspected to be caused by vandals at the Gare du Nord in Paris halted train traffic to Britain and many other destinations for several hours on Tuesday evening.
Some rail services, including Eurostar and Thalys trains, from the central Paris station were suspended at around 6.30pm after a transformer caught fire, authorities said.
“Power has been restored and traffic will gradually resume throughout the network,” said a spokeswoman for France’s national rail operator, SNCF.
She said that a “malicious act” was the suspected cause of the fire near rail equipment just north of Paris, adding that several people had been seen trying to steal electric cables.
A police official said the fire was being investigated but there was no immediate danger to passengers.
The incident took place in the wake of the killing of 84 people in a truck attack in Nice last week, which was claimed by Islamic State and was the third major terror attack in France in 18 months.
Eurostar trains across the Channel and to Brussels, Amsterdam and other international destinations all leave from the Gare du Nord in Paris.