At the critical moment of crossover holiday in February, about 30,000 passengers were affected by an act of vandalism on a line in the Alps, the SNCF said. "A malicious act has been committed so far (…) near Albertville. Cables were severed with a saw, seriously disrupting traffic in the Tarentaise valley, "SNCF said in a statement.
The railway line was repaired vandalized at 18h, allowing trains stuck between Bourg-Saint-Maurice Chambery and recovering gradually, said the station and the prefecture of Savoy. "The trains leave the circulation is restored," said the chief of staff of the Prefect of Savoy, Xavier Idier.Shortly before 19h, no more train was stuck in the Tarentaise valley, but 400 to 500 passengers were still in the station of Albertville, 400 to 500 in one of Moutiers, and from 1000 to 1500 passengers waiting to leave Bourg-Saint Maurice. "The incident is closed," confirmed a spokeswoman for regional station, explains that the movement was "slowly" resumed.
"Sabotage"
"Being a weekend announced long as particularly responsible, SNCF deplores and strongly condemns this new act of malice, which resembles a form of sabotage."A term by the Minister of Transport Thierry Mariani: "If it turns out to sabotage it, I hope that justice will be exemplary rigor, because tens of thousands of passengers, dozens of thousands of families will undergo five hours, six hours, seven hours late because of some thugs, "he said.
"An investigation is underway," said SNCF. "Three cables, signal and power were cut" in the morning on-line Chambery Bourg-Saint-Maurice, extremely busy this time of return and departure on vacation, said a spokeswoman for the Regional SNCF. In early afternoon, repairs were still ongoing. The return to normalcy is not expected until the evening.
A period of very heavy traffic
"Until 13:30, twenty trains were affected.The problem is that we are in times of high traffic, "she said. Delays of between three and five hours are expected. The incident occurred in full crossover vacationers and skiers of different areas of school holidays.
"My TER was to leave at 11 am from Bourg-Saint-Maurice left with thirty minutes late. The train was then locked one hour, "says an AFP journalist stuck in a train to Lyon, with no information on the time that his train will arrive. "The TER is full. All vacationers who are descended from Tignes and other stations are mounted in Bourg-Saint-Maurice. There are plenty of people who will miss their connecting flight to Paris or Toulon …», he concludes philosophically.
SNCF evokes an act of vandalism, not theft.Society is increasingly faced with flight cables, particularly copper, which have doubled with the soaring prices, causing delays for trains. In September 2010, SNCF counted forty flights per week cable and assessed his damages at several million euros.
More information about delays here.
(With AFP)
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