Traffic resumed faster than expected, Wednesday, January 25, at the Gare de l’Est, in Paris, the day after the fire which caused the interruption of traffic all day Tuesday. SNCF Réseau filed a complaint and the Meaux prosecutor’s office opened an investigation for willful degradation and endangering the lives of others.
The repair work having ” well advanced “, according to SNCF, traffic has improved since midday, with three out of four trains for the TGV Est. The day had started with only one out of three TGVs during peak hours, then one out of two. From now on, all TGVs are again departing from and arriving at the Gare de l’Est, and no longer diverted for some to the Gare du Nord or the Gare de Lyon.
An improvement was also noticeable on the P Nord line towards Meaux and Château-Thierry, with “some adaptations of desserts”. The P Sud lines to Tournan and Provins and the RER E were not affected, while the Grand-Est TERs are running normally. SNCF Voyageurs remains cautious for Thursday, promising an update on its forecasts Wednesday at 5 p.m.
“No trace of tampering”
The fire at signaling and switch installations in Vaires-sur-Marne (Seine-et-Marne), early Tuesday morning, paralyzed the Gare de l’Est all day Tuesday, forcing the SNCF to cancel the almost all of its trains.
The Meaux public prosecutor’s office announced that concrete panels blocking access to a hatch where the boxes housing the electrical cables were located had been “withdrawn and deposited”. Moreover, “an access gate to the SNCF tracks was open without any trace of break-in”.
On Wednesday, the unions mobilized against the pension reform assured that no link could be made between the deterioration that occurred on Tuesday and the social movement. The SUD-Rail union “does not support isolated acts that destroy our working tool” and warns in a statement “on shortcuts, which could be made, by those who would use and discredit the anger in this country”.
Questioned on franceinfo on Wednesday, the secretary general of the CGT Philippe Martinez, himself, affirmed that there was to his knowledge ” no link “ between the mobilization against the pension reform and the fire, and invited to “be careful of these kinds of shortcuts”. “When there is this kind of offence, there are necessarily penalties”he added.