Paris: traffic interrupted several hours at Gare du Nord after a “malicious” fire – The Point

The rail traffic was completely stopped for four hours Tuesday night at the Gare du Nord in Paris because of a fire on an electrical transformer caused by “a malicious act,” said SNCF.

“a technical solution is found, the power was restored and the traffic will gradually take over the entire network,” announced to 10:30 p.m. AFP a spokesman for SNCF. The recovery “will take several hours” but “will relieve a number of platforms.”

Traffic was interrupted at 6:30 p.m. after a fire that detonated an electrical transformer at Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), crippling the Paris station which serves the northern suburbs of Paris, northern France (TGV) and England (Eurostar), Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany (Thalys).

“about 15,000 people” had to be evacuated from 15 trains stuck on the tracks, “is close to the station, sometimes far from the station,” reported on France Info the Secretary of State for Transport Alain Vidal, who went to Saint-Denis. This fire is “the result of arson,” he said.

“The electric current was cut by Paris Nord security following a fire enough significant on an electric transformer, “said SNCF, citing” a malicious act “caused allegedly by persons caught while they were stealing electric cables. The public company has announced its intention to file a complaint

The fire detonated an electrical transformer, said the fire

-.. Crowded station in a heat wave –

at the Gare du Nord, several hundred people were waiting always late Tuesday evening, riveted to their phones, some lying on the ground, said a journalist from AFP. A young man killed time by playing “We are the world” on a piano available to the public, accompanied on vocals by friends.

“Five hours without eating, without anything,” Linda Correia plague 39. “They offer us a drink, but to go to the toilet then? And then there is nobody to give information.”

Travelers also line up over tens of meters to try to get a night in the hotel.

the civil protection, including ambulances are parked outside the station, stretched white sheets and taking care of people inconvenienced. Some, in a state of apparent weakness during the first day of extreme heat, were evacuated on stretchers or wheelchairs.

For travelers the mainline who will not leave in the next few hours ” we are organizing support by the usual methods “or reserving hotel accommodation, either by placing station wagons in which people can spend the night, told AFP Florence Parly the CEO travelers from the train.

Some, like Simon, a commercial of 31 years who was returning to the North, were blocked by full trip.

the TGV floor to Lille, party at 6:16 p.m., stopped “five or ten minutes after the start,” he detailing AFP to 8:30 p.m.. “The train was not full, but it’s still in the world. (…) We stayed on the tracks, we had permission because there was more air conditioning inside , it became unbearable, “said he said.

the president of Valérie Pécresse region, which also went to Saint-Denis, said on Twitter” expect the strongest side this malicious act “

07/19/2016 11:52:36 p.m.. – Paris (AFP) – AFP © 2016