Fires on French railway tracks have delayed journeys for 800,000 travelers in what the transport minister described as “coordinated attacks of malicious intent.”

A co-ordinated arson attack on the French rail system is turning the first weekend of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris into a nightmare for hundreds of thousands of travelers.

French rail company SNCF announced on Friday its high-speed train system had been hit by “deliberate arson attacks to damage [its] facilities” causing delays and cancellations which are expected to last all weekend.

The disruptions are affecting trains heading East, North and West of Paris, and travelers have been asked to postpone their plans.

  • Flying SquidM
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    34 months ago

    Thanks! For my case, I’m assuming none of them are in English and I’m a dumb 'murcan who barely made it through French in high school, so I’m going to have to stick with Canada. But hopefully that will help others.

    • @grue
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      34 months ago

      As a 'murcan who took Latin in high school (because SAT scores were a higher-priority goal than actually becoming bilingual, LOL) and is now learning French of my own volition, I think maybe the Olympics would be a relatively good candidate for watching in French. At least with the simpler/less-subjective sports (e.g. track and field, as opposed to e.g. gymnastics), it could be possible to follow along just with the infographics on the screen even if you struggle to understand the commentary.

      (Also, thanks for the advice. I’ve got a PIA subscription that I really don’t use enough, so this is a good push to finally figure out how to set it up properly.)

    • @mecfs
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      24 months ago

      I like to watch national TV from other countries its fun way to get to know the language and culture

      • Flying SquidM
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        04 months ago

        I used to do that when I was younger, but these days it’s usually for something like the Olympics where I want to understand what’s going on.

        I do get a huge dose of Canadian pride though, so that’s fun.