Traffic on the entire high-speed line between Paris and the East of France is interrupted due to a catenary break at Châlons-en-Champagne, causing numerous delays for trains usually using this route. line, announced SNCF on Friday April 26.
TGVs can no longer run on the high-speed line which provides connections between Strasbourg, Nancy-Metz, Reims and Paris and are therefore forced to divert towards the conventional route, causing delays in both directions going “twenty minutes to two hours”according to SNCF.
A restoration of power expected in the afternoon
According to the SNCF Gares & Connexions website, certain trains from Germany were experiencing delays of up to four hours upon arrival in Paris, and even up to five and a half hours for a TGV from Colmar. In the direction of departures from Paris, many trains were delayed between two and twenty twenty hours.
The catenary break has happened “a little before noon” and a restoration of power on the line is expected “during the afternoon”, said the SNCF. This break in the cables allowing the electricity supply to the trains occurs the day before a weekend, in the middle of the school holidays for the academies zone of Nancy-Metz, Reims and Strasbourg.