Eurostar trains between Paris and London suspended after WW2 bomb found near tracks

Digest opened free editor

Rola Khaleda, FT editor, chooses her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.

The train operator said on Friday that Eurostar trains between Paris and London were canceled for the rest of the day after a bomb was found in World War II near the tracks near Paris Gary de Nord.

Eurostar said the bomb was found about 2.5 km from the Parisian train center in a northern suburb of the city. The train services will only resume by wiping the device by experts to get rid of bombs.

The operator said that all Eurostar trains were canceled inside and outside Paris on Friday, while regional and national services that use Gare du nord were disabled. Other Eurostar services that do not pass through the French capital work normally.

SNCF, the national railway operator in France, said that regional services will not resume until midnight on Friday, pending the approval of the authorities.

She said a 500 kg bomb was discovered at about 3:30 am local time during the railway work in Saint Dennis, one of the northern suburbs of the French capital.

The video clips on social media showed long lines in the Gare du nord, where Eurostar passengers waited to reschedule the flights.

“I spent more time reaching Charles de Gaulle [airport] To Gare du Nord from Florence to Paris, “One of the users has been posted on X.

The cancellation comes in a particularly crowded time for Eurostar, where people go to Paris for the fashion week, and others use the service to leave or return to the French capital to spend the weekend.

Eurostar merged with Thaalys, a company that serves France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, to form the Eurostar Group in 2022. It is one of the largest high -speed railway operators in Europe and expands its fleet into a “great demand” for its services.

CEO Jindoline Kazenaf recently told the Financial Times that Eurosar was “definitely” considering opening new roads from London to Europe, as well as its services between London, Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels.