Saboteurs target strike-hit French railways

[John Ashworth]

Saboteurs target strike-hit French railways


James Orr and agencies
Wednesday November 21, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

Saboteurs have damaged large sections of France's high-speed railway network, further delaying services already hit by strike action, senior officials said today.

The SNCF state railway executive, Guillaume Pepy, told the French radio station RTL that arsonists had destroyed cabling, preventing many trains from running.

Further "coordinated" attacks on the country's network had also led to serious delays to commuter services this morning.

In one instance, saboteurs started a large fire that damaged 18 miles of signalling on the western side of the network.

"A certain number of actions have taken place at the same time on the high-speed rail network," Pepy announced.

"We are faced with a coordinated act of sabotage of installations which are aimed at preventing the expected return of (rail) traffic."

France has already suffered huge delays to its rail services during an eight-day transport strike over pension reform.

The French government, unions and management are due to resume negotiations today aimed at ending the dispute, which has snarled nationwide rail traffic and hit public transport in Paris since November 14.

Pepy said arsonists had damaged cabling on the eastern TGV line, preventing trains from running since 6am (5am GMT).

The SNCF said it expected the sabotage to cause delays of three hours elsewhere on the TGV network, which carries the bulk of traffic between the major cities in France.

Pepy did not say who might be behind the sabotage, although SNCF management has previously said union militants might try to damage the network to prevent a return to normal on the network.

Yesterday, the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, said he would not back down on his controversial pension reform.

Today, the head of France's business lobby said the dispute was causing huge damage to the economy.

"The cost of the strike is quite simply incalculable. That's to say it is probably gigantic. It is a real catastrophe for our economy," Laurence Parisot told RTL radio.

Although the vast majority of rail workers and Paris transport workers have now returned to work, a hard core of unionists have refused to halt their strike.