Summary
Train services disrupted by a series of fires on French high-speed rail lines are slowly resuming, hours before the Paris Olympics opening ceremony
Rail company SNCF says it's a "massive attack aimed at paralysing the network"; France's transport minister condemns the "co-ordinated malicious acts"
Some 800,000 customers will be affected with disruption expected all weekend, the rail firm says
One in four Eurostar services across its entire network will be cancelled until Monday
For BBC Sport's build-up to the Olympics, follow our separate live coverage here
Live Reporting
Edited by James Harness and Jamie Whitehead
Watch: The mood inside Paris' Gare du Nord as crowds growpublished at 12:44
12:44
BBC Paris correspondent Andrew Harding is at Paris Gare du Nord train station, where hundreds of people are waiting after a series of attacks across France damaged high-speed rail lines.
Investigators likely to be focusing on activists and extremistspublished at 12:36
12:36
Frank Gardner
Security correspondentFrance has no shortage of adversaries when it comes to people who profoundly resent its government’s policies, over Ukraine, West Africa or closer to home, the wearing of the veil.
Over the past decade, the country has been the victim of several major attacks - in Paris, Nice and elsewhere, all linked to so-called Islamic State (Isis) - as well as smaller, isolated, but still violent attacks on individuals by jihadists.
Today’s attack on France’s high-speed rail network has been classed as sabotage, rather than terrorism – no-one was killed – so Isis and al-Qaeda are unlikely to be at the top of the list of suspects.
In April, French president Emmanuel Macron said he had no doubt that Moscow would try to disrupt the Olympic Games in some way.
Investigators will be focusing their attention on activists and known extremists, as well as any possible links to the Kremlin.
The announcement by the Paris prosecutor’s office of the severe penalties for those responsible will be intended, as much as anything, as a deterrent to discourage anyone tempted to carry out any similar acts of sabotage.
A waiting game for delayed holidaymakers in Bordeauxpublished at 12:25
12:25
Chris Bockman
Reporting from ToulouseThe rapid TGV rail service linking the south western cities ofToulouse and Bordeaux with Paris is one of the busiest in France. In fact, Bordeaux, nearly 600km from the capital, is just two hours away by fast train.
Today many passengers would havebeen planning to head from the capital to Bordeaux to reach the long popularsandy beaches nearby for their summer holidays, or further to Toulouse tochange trains and continue their journeys to Barcelona and the Costa Brava.
Those plans have been wrecked - the rail company SNCF has just announced rapid train services from the capital have beencancelled until the afternoon at the earliest impacting at least 250,000travellers today alone.
The SNCF says the other highly important service betweenParis and Lyon is running normally after the authorities prevented an attemptedsabotage on that line too.
Where the arson attacks took placepublished at 12:18
12:18
As we've been reporting, three high-speed lines (Atlantique, Nord and Est) of the TGV network have been affected by the disruptions.
On the map below you can also see the locations of the attacks - successful and foiled - that have disrupted the rail lines.
Diverted trains adding 90 minutes to journeys, Eurostar sayspublished at 12:14
12:14
A little more from Eurostar's statement now.
The high-speed train operator says: "Due to co-ordinated malicious acts in France affecting the high-speed line between Paris and Lille, all high-speed trains going to and coming from Paris are being diverted via the classic line today, Friday 26 July.
"This extends the journey time up to an hour and a half.
"Eurostar expects this situation will last until Monday morning."
Customers can cancel free of charge or be refunded, Eurostar says, and can also modify their journeys for free.
They reiterate that customers are encouraged to postpone trips if possible.
One in four Eurostar trains to be cancelled across entire network until Mondaypublished at 12:07
12:07Breaking
Image source, Getty ImagesWe've just had a fresh update from Eurostar, which says it will be cancelling one in four of its trains between across its entire network today.
This "will also be the case" for Saturday and Sunday, Eurostar says, adding it expects the disruption to last until Monday morning.
"Eurostar's teams arefully mobilised in stations, in the call centres, and onboard to ensure thatall passengers are informed and can reach their destination," a spokesman says.
'Crowded but manageable,' says delayed Eurostar passengerpublished at 12:07
12:07
Lana Lam
Live reporterOne of the first affected London-Paris Eurostar trains arrived at Gare du Nord station a short time ago.
Megan Murphy, 50, tells the BBC it was "crowded but manageable".
The former journalist says her train was 90 minutes late, and stopped briefly in Lille so the train could switch to a different track.
“It is worrying how much more delayed the later trains will be,” she says. “Definitely not a good situation.”
After arriving, she posted on X: "Now let’s go see some boats, athletes, fireworks and Celine Dion!!"
- If you're travelling on Eurostar today, find out what you need to know here
Paris prosecutor's office opens investigationpublished at 12:03
12:03
Image source, Paris prosecutor's officeAs we've been reporting, the Paris prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into "deliberate damage" caused to SNCF sites and harm to "fundamental national interests" after rail sabotage.
The body says the investigations surround the actions overnight.
EuroAirport re-opens after 'bomb alert'published at 11:52
11:52
Earlier this morning we brought you some developing news of an evacuation of EuroAirport - an important airport on the French-Swiss border.
It was closed and all flights were grounded.
In the last few moments EuroAirport says it has re-opened and "flight operations are gradually restarting".
French police say the Basel-Mullhouse airport was shut due to a "bomb alert" earlier.
It is unclear whether the alert relates to a threat inside the terminal, on an aircraft or in the vicinity of the airport.
Passengers are being advised to check before they travel as a number of flights have been subjected to delays or cancellations.
Rail sabotage is attack on 'the athletes' Games', says French sports ministerpublished at 11:46
11:46
France's sports minister has labelled the acts of sabotage on the country's high-speed rail network as an attack on the "the athletes' Games," in an interview with French broadcaster BFMTV.
"These Games are for the athletes who have been dreaming of them for years and fighting for the holy grail of standing on the podium and someone's sabotaging that for them," sports minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra says.
She adds that the Paris 2024 Olympics "have been prepared for so carefully by hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens for almost 10 years".
In pictures: Crowds build at stations hours before Olympic ceremonypublished at 11:41
11:41
Here are some more pictures we are getting through from stations across France and St Pancras in London.
Image source, THIBAUD MORITZ/AFP via Getty ImagesImage source, ABDESSLAM MIRDASS/AFP via Getty ImagesImage source, PA MediaImage source, EPA-EFE/REX/ShutterstockWhat we don't know so farpublished at 11:29
11:29
Marita Moloney
Live page editorWhile details of the disruption to France's high-speed rail network are still emerging, we still don't know who is responsible for the attack or what the motivation was.
SNCF, the state-owned railway operator, says signal boxes along the lines connecting Paris with major cities to the north, east and southwest were damaged by fires in a "massive attack".
It is working to fix the cables "one by one", but warns 800,000 people will be affected over the weekend due to the disruption.
The French PM Gabriel Attal says police and intelligence services are working to find and punish those responsible, without giving further details. He is expected to give a statement later ahead of the Olympics opening ceremony.
The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened a criminal investigation, warning of lengthy jail time and substantial fines for anyone found to be responsible.
We're hoping to get further clarity on who was behind the attack, and will bring you everything we learn as we get it.
We have full confidence in French authorities - Olympic presidentpublished at 11:21
11:21
Image source, ReutersThe International Olympic Committee (IOC) president has given his reaction to the sabotaging of the train system hours before the Paris 2024 Games opening ceremony.
"I don't have concerns," Thomas Bach tells the media at the Olympic Athletes' Village.
"We have full confidence in the French authorities."
We'll have to repair cables one-by-one - rail bosspublished at 11:14
11:14
Image source, Getty ImagesThe president of the state rail company SNCF gives some context as to how meticulous the repair work is going to be across the affected parts of France's high-speed network.
Jean-Pierre Farandou says the attackers started fires in "conduits carrying multiple (fibre-optic) cables" that relay "safety information for drivers", according to news agency AFP.
"There's a huge number of bundled cables. We have to repair them one-by-one, it's a manual operation requiring hundreds of workers," he adds.
Nearly 250,000 customers affected today - rail companypublished at 11:11
11:11
The head of an SNCF subsidiary branch has said that the network is expecting 250,000 travellers to be affected by the disruption today and 800,000 over the weekend.
Christophe Fanichet, the CEO of the SNCF Voyageurs, says the disruption will be minimised as things improve.
He reminds people that the South East branch of the rail network is not affected.
The rail company is hoping to improve the North and East branches "step by step" but trains will be one and a half to two hours late, with some cancelled.
There will be no trains from Montparnasse until 13:00 Paris time.
Affected travellers will be reimbursed, Fanichet says, and will be kept informed via SMS and email.
He asks that people do not come to the stations unless they have received communications that their trains are running.
Have you been affected by the disruption?published at 11:07
11:07
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Railway workers and officials at the site of the attackpublished at 11:01
11:01
We're now seeing photos of SNCF railway workers and law enforcement officers at a site where vandals targeted France's high-speed train network with a series of coordinated actions that brought major disruption.
Image source, ReutersImage source, ReutersImage source, ReutersEurostar urges passengers not to travel - here is what you need to knowpublished at 10:57
10:57
Image source, PA MediaEurostar is now encouraging passengers to postpone travel if possible amid details of fresh delays and cancellations to services between the UK and France.
According to Eurostar's website, two services from London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord which have been cancelled.
These include the services departing London at 15:31 and 19:01 are no longer running.
One Eurostar train from the Paris to London, the 12:12 service, has also been cancelled.
For those affected, you might be wondering what your next steps are.
Well, Eurostar lists a few options including exchanging your booking for a different date, cancelling and claiming an e-voucher or you can ask for a full refund.
Currently the majority of Eurostar trains between London and Paris are still running - but with delays of at least an hour.
EuroAirport evacuated due to 'safety reasons' as flights groundedpublished at 10:54
10:54
Some news just coming to us from elsewhere on the continent - EuroAirport Basel–Mulhouse–Freiburg has temporary grounded flights due to "safety reasons".
The airport is located in France and is operated jointly by France and Switzerland.
A post on social media says the terminal has been evacuated and closed.
We have no indication whether this is linked to the rail disruption in France, but we will bring you more details as we get them.
Train routes in France facing disruptionpublished at 10:50
10:50
The Atlantique, Nord and Est lines of the TGV network have been impacted by disruptions after being sabotaged.
The Atlantique goes from Paris to Bordeaux, the Nord goes from Paris to Lille and the Est takes passengers from Paris to Strasbourg.
