EAST RAILWAY STATION. This Wednesday, January 25, 2023, traffic has seen a marked improvement since this afternoon on the lines serving the Gare de l’Est (TGV, TER but also the P line of the Transilien). The evening forecast.
[Updated January 25, 2023 at 5:11 p.m.] The day after a historic day without traffic at the Gare de l’Est, after an “act of sabotage” denounced by SNCF management at a signal box in Vaires -sur-Marne in Seine-et-Marne, train traffic is increasingly returning to normal this Wednesday, January 25 with currently 3 out of 4 TGVs in circulation on the Gare de l’Est network, according to the company railway. All TGVs depart from and arrive at Gare de l’Est and are no longer diverted to Gare du Nord or Gare de Lyon.
Good news about the Île-de-France lines serving the Gare de l’Est: traffic is now normal, “with some service adjustments”, on the northern branch of the Transilien line P. RER E and the southern branch of line P of the Transilien are still running normally this Wednesday, January 25. The return to normal traffic at the Gare de l’Est is announced for Thursday, January 26.
TGV and Intercités users have, in principle, received an SMS or an e-mail informing them if their train is canceled (provided they have provided their contact details) in order to make the exchange or cancellation of their ticket and a 100% refund.
This Wednesday, January 25, traffic from or to the Gare de l’Est resumed. In detail, what should users who have planned to travel this Wednesday evening expect?
The traffic interruption noted on Tuesday, January 24, 2023 at the Gare de l’Est was caused by the damage to “48 cable arteries, or around 600 electric cables”, in a signal box located in Vaires-sur-Marne , in Seine-et-Marne, on the night of Monday 23 to Tuesday 24 January, indicated the SNCF. According to the Minister of Transport, the cables were “set on fire”, and this, “at two specific, targeted points, a few tens of meters from each other”, with “a deliberate intention to harm”.
“This morning, we suffered an act of sabotage around 3 a.m., we discovered […] significant damage”, added Olivier Bancel, number two of the SNCF Network, on Tuesday evening, of which Le Parisien s” is echoed in particular. And to confirm the thesis already mentioned by the Minister: “It is an act of sabotage on signaling cables which include safety circuits.” SNCF Réseau announced that it had lodged a complaint and the Meaux prosecutor’s office indicated the opening of an investigation for willful damage and endangering the lives of others. At this stage of the investigation, all leads are open as to the identity of the perpetrator(s).
An SNCF executive reportedly told BFM TV that the perpetrators “necessarily knew the network well”. In reaction to these remarks, SUD-Rail delegate Fabien Villedieu felt that it could not be the work of a railway worker who does not have a “tradition of sabotaging his working tool”. “We are on strike to have investments in the network, it is unimaginable that it comes from us”, he explained on RMC this Wednesday morning.
