The discovery of a huge unexploded World War II-era bomb near the tracks by workers severed Paris’ high-speed rail links with London and Brussels on Friday, causing cascading disruptions to scores of other trains to and from France’s busiest railway station, the Gare du Nord in Paris, as well as chaos on roads in the capital as bomb-disposal experts worked to make the half-ton explosive safe.
Eurostar, operator of the speedy trains announced the cancellation of all its services to and from its hub in the French capital.
Bright red signs warning of service disruptions greeted rail users at Gare du Nord station, their travel plans thrown into disarray during the morning rush hour and causing repercussions beyond France’s borders. In Brussels, trains to Paris were cancelled until at least Friday afternoon.
Eurostar, which runs passenger trains through the Channel Tunnel between Britain and the continent apologized for the disruption and passengers at St. Pancras were advised to take the train to Lille in northwest France, or fly to Paris.
Fridays are invariably busy at St. Pancras, Eurostar’s London hub, as thousands of people leave and arrive for weekend breaks and French national rail operator SNCF says the Gare du Nord habitually sees 700,000 travellers per day, making it the busiest rail hub in both France and Europe.
As well as towns and cities across northern France and the Paris suburbs, the station also serves Paris’ main airport and international destinations including London, Brussels and cities in the Netherlands.
Bombs left over from World War I or World War II are regularly discovered around France, but it is very rare to find them in such a people-packed location.
The bomb was discovered around 4 a.m. by workers doing earth-moving work near the tracks in the Seine-Saint-Denis region that borders Paris to the north. Bomb disposal experts were sent to the site.
French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said traffic would be ‘’strongly disrupted” throughout the day with only limited service resuming in the afternoon and urged travellers to postpone their trips.
Tabarot, speaking on broadcaster Sud Radio, said local residents and people near the train stations should have “no fear” of a risk of explosion, stressing the procedures in place for defusing and removing such bombs.
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