Delays on SNCF leave thousands of passengers stranded

Transport on French railways returned to normal Tuesday morning after a series of incidents on the high-speed link between Paris and the south and south west of the country. Police in Paris implemented the Plan Pegase to deal with the 10,500 delayed passengers who arrived in the capital after the closure of the Metro system. 

Reuters / Charles Platiau

The plan increases the available transport in train stations to help passengers return home.

“We put into service a large number of taxis so people could return home,” explained a spokesman for the SNCF, adding the taxis were paid for by the state-run company.

Some 200 technicians worked overnight to repair a line that was damaged by the Paris- Bordeaux train Monday evening which disrupted traffice in both directions. Hundreds of passengers were delayed for several hours.

Earlier the Paris-Marseille train ground to a halt after a suicide caused delays of several hours. In total around a dozen high-speed TGV experienced delays of between 45 minutes and an hour.

Monday’s disruption comes after a weekend which saw a total of 12 suicides on the national railway system and one technical failure.