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Vandals target France's high-speed rail network as Olympics get underway

Vandals targeted France's highspeed TGV network with a series of collaborated actions that brought major disturbance to a few of the nation's busiest rail lines ahead of the Paris Olympics opening event on Friday.

The state-owned railway operator said arsonists had actually targeted installations along the lines linking Paris with cities such as Lille in the north, Bordeaux in west and Strasbourg in the east.

It advised all travellers to delay their journeys. Repairs were underway but traffic would be significantly disrupted until at least the end of the weekend. Trains were being returned to their points of departure.

Last night, the SNCF was victim of a number of acts of vandalism on the Atlantic, Northern and Eastern high-speed lines. Fires were intentionally set to damage our installations, the SNCF stated in a statement.

The coordinated strikes on the rail network will feed into a sense of apprehension ahead of the Olympics opening ceremony in the heart of Paris in the future Friday.

France is rolling out an extraordinary peacetime security operation to protect the event, with more than 45,000 cops, 10,000 soldiers and 2,000 personal security agents released. Snipers will be on rooftops and drones keeping watch from the air.

There was immediate claim of obligation and no sign of whether the action was politically associated.

Transportation Minister Patrice Vergriete explained the serve as criminal. The Paris cops chief stated he was boosting security yet even more at the capital's main stations.

Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera condemned the vandalism.

It's entirely terrible, she told BFMTV. To target the games is to target France.

At the Gare de L'Est, tourist Corinne Lecocq said her train to Strasbourg on the border with Germany had actually been cancelled.

We'll take the sluggish line, she said. I'm on vacation so it's OK, even if it is irritating to be late.

(source: Reuters)