The first weekend of the summer holidays has been plunged into chaos as British families heading to Europe face long delays at train stations and on motorways across the country.
Huge queues have formed at London‘s St Pancras station after a ‘massive arson attack’ brought mayhem to France‘s rail network – hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games.
Several Eurostar trains to Paris have been cancelled and others diverted after ‘co-ordinated acts of malice’ on French high-speed rail lines.
The rail operator, which runs international services from London St Pancras, has told customers to cancel their trips today if they can, amid ongoing delays to its services.
Holidaymakers are also facing long tailbacks at the Port of Dover amid a ‘weekend of woe’ on Britain’s roads, while delays are being felt across the Gatwick Express as families head off on their summer getaways.
ST PANCRAS: Passengers queue at the Eurostar terminal after several French lines were hit by ‘malicious acts’
ST PANCRAS: Holidaymakers are facing travel chaos across Britain and France ahead of the Olympics
ST PANCRAS: A train cancellation on the Eurostar today
ST PANCRAS: Passengers sleep at the central London station as they face long delays
DOVER: Holidaymakers wait to board ferries at the Kent port as the busy summer travel period gets underway
DOVER: Port officials have said that holidaymakers are facing processing times of around 40 minutes
DOVER: Long tailbacks are seen as 3.2million drivers hit the roads on Frantic Friday
French rail company SNCF said a series of incidents overnight had affected travel to and from London beneath the Channel, to Belgium and across the west, north and east of France.
Three fires were reported near the tracks of the French Atlantique, Nord and Est high-speed lines by local media.
The French sports minister has described the attacks on high-speed rail lines across France as ‘unacceptable’.
Speaking to Sky News, Amelie Oudea-Castera said: ‘I condemn them extremely strongly. It’s just unacceptable.
‘It’s probably a large-scale sabotage with some malicious acts, probably co-ordinating. We’re still in the process of analysing all the impacts, accessing what we’re going to implement as solutions because it’s going to have impacts also over the weekend.’
Fears are mounting that Moscow may have been behind the attack after an alleged Russian spy was arrested this week.
Kirill Gryaznov, 40, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with working ‘with a foreign power to try and incite hostilities in France’ after being identified as working for the FSB, Vladimir Putin’s domestic intelligence agency.
Gryaznov – who denies any wrongdoing – is said to have boasted about turning the start of the Paris Olympics into ‘an opening ceremony like no other’.
Last night, with just hours to go before the opening ceremony on the River Seine, fires were started at key installations, bringing trains to a halt and affecting around 800,000 passengers.
Eurostar said: ‘Due to co-ordinated acts of malice in France, affecting the high-speed line between Paris and Lille, all high-speed trains going to and coming from Paris are being diverted via the classic line today Friday July 26.
‘This extends the journey time by around an hour-and-a-half. Several trains have been cancelled.
‘Eurostar’s teams are fully mobilised in stations, in the call centres, and onboard to ensure that all passengers are informed and can reach their destination.’
The company said customers were being informed via email, text and on the Eurostar website. Any affected passengers can cancel or refund their tickets or modify their journey free of charge.
In an update to the earlier statement, the rail operator said: ‘We encourage our customers to postpone their trip if possible.’
MANCHESTER: Passengers queue at the airport on the first weekend of the summer holidays
MANCHESTER: Pictures show passengers waiting in long queues as they embark on summer getaways
PARIS: Rail passengers wait inside the Gare du Nord train station amid delays after a ‘massive arson attack’ hit France’s rail networks
PARIS: Passengers sit on the floor as they wait for updates following a series of attacks
PARIS: Police officers patrol the areas after high-speed rail traffic to the French capital was severely disrupted
PARIS: Passengers wait inside the Gare du Nord train station on the day that the 2024 Summer Olympics starts in the capital
PARIS: Passengers gather around the departure boards at the Gare Montparnasse train station
PARIS: Travelers check trains on an electronic board at the Gare de Montparnasse
SNCF said the situation should last ‘at least all weekend’ but teams are already on site carrying out checks and beginning repairs.
The operator advised its passengers to postpone their journeys and ‘not to go to the station’.
In Britain, the RAC has warned of delays all week after schools broke up for the summer holidays and they have dubbed today as ‘Frantic Friday’ with an estimated 3.2million cars set to his the road.
Thousands of cars are already stuck in long queues at Dover, with border processing times currently taking 40 minutes.
The chaos follows major travel disruption since last Friday after a flawed IT update by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike knocked many global services offline.
Congestion on Britain’s roads is set to peak on Saturday, with 3.6million journeys expected, according to the RAC. This will be followed by another 2.9million trips on Sunday.
A further 4million getaways are planned at some point between Friday and Sunday, meaning a total of 13.8million trips could be made throughout the course of the weekend.
The RAC said its records show these three days will form the second busiest summer getaway weekend since 2015.
In that time only 2022 has seen more trips made, with 18.8million taking to their cars during the heatwave that came at the end of two years of Covid-related restrictions.
Analytics firm Inrix has warned drivers to avoid travelling between 12pm and 5pm on both Friday and Saturday and between 11am and 1pm on Sunday when the worst delays are forecast.
The best times to travel are expected to be after 6pm on Friday and Saturday, or 3pm on Sunday.
The single worst queue, of more than two hours, is predicted on Saturday lunchtime on the M5 heading south between junction 15 for the M4 interchange near Bristol, and junction 23 for Bridgwater, as holidaymakers flock to Devon and Cornwall.
RAC Breakdown spokesperson Alice Simpson said: ‘Anyone heading off on holiday on Saturday or Sunday should expect a weekend of woe on the roads with journeys taking far longer than normal.
‘If you can’t set off really early, then it’s highly likely you’ll be sitting in traffic for quite some time.
‘Our research suggests this year’s getaway is set to be busier than average, possibly due to the UK inflation rate having slowed, giving people a bit more confidence to spend.
‘However, with our recent bad weather causing an increase in international travel bookings, queues to major airports should not be underestimated. We’d advise drivers to plan their routes well in advance if jetting off abroad this week.’
Britons heading to holiday destinations by train also face disruption on certain routes over the coming week due to engineering works.
A major project to replace a 150-year-old bridge over the railway near Hackney Downs in East London began over the weekend and will run until Sunday, August 4.
This means Greater Anglia services between Bishops Stortford to Stratford will not operate all fortnight.
In addition, routes between London Liverpool Street and Cambridge and all Stansted Express trains will divert via Seven Sisters instead of running via Tottenham Hale – extending journey times.
This means Seven Sisters station is expected to be much busier than usual, with a one-way system in operation at peak periods.
Commuters at London Euston railway station last Friday during the global IT outage
London Overground services to and from Liverpool Street and Chingford will also be disrupted by the works.
Elsewhere, in Kent buses will replace Southeastern trains between Sittingbourne and Sheerness-on-Sea this weekend due to repairs on the Kingsferry Bridge.
East Midlands Railway passengers will be affected by works at the weekend, with buses running between Market Harborough, Leicester and Kettering.
And buses will also replace CrossCountry trains between Leicester and Nuneaton this weekend.
South Western Railway travellers will be also impacted by works taking place between Surbiton and Effingham Junction via Claygate, closing all lines.
