The machine starts up slowly again. TGV traffic on the Southeast axis will progressively resume this Monday, October 27 at the end of the afternoon. Traffic between Lyon and Avignon has been very disrupted since this morning after An arson attack on an infrastructure..
“A few moments ago, on the Southeast high-speed line, a train is running again,” the minister announced, referring to “more or less normal traffic starting at 9 p.m. and tomorrow (Tuesday) morning, completely normal traffic,” announced the Minister of Transport, Philippe Tabarot.
70% of trains should run at reduced speed in both directions (Paris-Marseille-Paris), the SNCF also specified. For diverted trains running, the expected delays this afternoon will be on average one hour (instead of the 2.5 hours previously announced).
The total return to normality is still scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday.
A malicious fire
The delays and numerous cancellations are the result of “acts of vandalism caused by a fire on the signaling cables between Lyon and Avignon.” The damage occurred south of Valence, in the town of Alixan (Drôme).
“We need to replace 16 cables,” explained Frédéric Guichard, director of Southeast operations at SNCF Réseau, speaking to BFMTV at midday. Each of its cables contains dozens of others, which corresponds to “25 meters of cables to connect for each of them.” “All communication networks have been cut,” he added.
These malicious acts cost the SNCF more and more. “In total, in 2024, malicious intentions and intrusions caused more than 800,000 minutes of delay and affected almost 40,000 trains,” calculates SNCF Réseau.
As a result, the railway company is accelerating its safety investments, which have almost doubled between 2023 and 2024, going from 17.8 million to 35.1 million, according to the 2024 safety report.
Source: BFM TV
