Traffic is also severely disrupted this Sunday departing from and arriving at the Gare du Nord in Paris, without however the SNCF being able to say whether the power failure is linked to the strong storms on Saturday.
The violent storms that hit France this Saturday affected the various means of transport, especially in Île-de-France. Traffic was severely disrupted late Saturday afternoon. The flooding of the roadway led to the closure of the interior A86 motorway, in the direction of Versailles, but also the closure of the Fresnes tunnel. Some traffic difficulties have also been reported on the A6 and A10.
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According to the Essonne firefighters, the A6 was flooded. They also reported complications to circulate on the RN118 and the A10. In the Yvelines, the heavy rain led to the paralysis of traffic on the N10, near Rambouillet.
With regard to public transport in Île-de-France, traffic on the RER B was severely disrupted on the entire line due to a “power supply failure at Gare du Nord“. Traffic was also partially interrupted on RER D and RER E due to several breakdowns. Line P of the transilien was also interrupted between Paris Est and Meaux until the last train due to a breakdown in the network manager’s facilities. On the metro side, traffic on line 8 was severely disrupted.in view of very important floods».
Very disrupted traffic at Gare du Nord
On the SNCF side, the Gare du Nord in Paris is experiencing major disruptions this Sunday. Suburban and mainline traffic departing from and arriving at the station was interrupted for several hours, and only gradually resumed on the mainlines in the afternoon, SNCF said.
A TGV Paris-Lille “experienced a catenary incident this morning near Saint-Denis. The cause of this incident could be linked to the thunderstorms last night in Ile-de-France but we are not sure.“, explained to AFP a spokesperson for the SNCF. The passengers of the TGV concerned had to be evacuated and transferred to another train. “For safety reasons, the power supply in the area had to be temporarily interrupted, which caused the interruption of the circulation of all trains“, she added.
«Train traffic will resume very gradually for all carriers departing from and arriving at Paris Gare du Nord from 2:30 p.m.“, indicated the SNCF on its website, after having previously reported a circulation “totally interrupted». «It gradually picks up“On the main lines, confirmed the spokesperson, while traffic had already resumed on the RER.
Several Eurostar and Thalys trains have been cancelled, and Eurostar advised travelers to “postpone their trip if possible». «All our trains to and from Paris are subject to severe delays and cancellations“, Underlines the cross-Channel company on Twitter. Thalys also suggested to its customers to postpone their trip. “There will be no departure from Paris or arrival in Paris before 4:00 p.m. Deletions and major delays are to be expected throughout the dayexplains the company, which serves Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.
In addition, and directly related to the bad weather, a tree fell on a set of cables in Survilliers, in the Val-d’Oise, Saturday in the middle of the evening. “We were forced to interrupt traffic on the high-speed line between Paris and Lille but also the TER line for Picardy“, explains the SNCF.
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Added to this was the flooding of a technical room, which had an impact on the proper functioning of the railway signalling. “We have been forced to interrupt the circulation of certain trains departing from the Gare de l’Est in Paris“, explains the SNCF. Some crowd movements then took place for the use of replacement buses, resulting in some overflows. The police used tear gas to disperse the passengers. Traffic returned to normal on Sunday, assures the railway company.
In the rest of France, the SNCF confirmed some delays, “but nothing significant” on rails. In fact, a portion of the network has been interrupted in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques since late Saturday evening: a TGV linking Paris to Tarbes hit a tree that had fallen on the tracks at Poey-de-Lescar. Sunday morning trains have been cancelled, the SNCF hopes to reopen traffic around 2 p.m.
Air traffic was also disrupted by this stormy episode. The take-off of planes was suspended at Orly airport at the end of the afternoon. The landings were managed at the “dropper“Said the ADP group (Aéroports de Paris), ensuring that flights have resumed but that delays are to be expected. “This stormy episode affects the entire European networkadded ADP.
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The airline KLM meanwhile canceled its flights to Amsterdam due to adverse weather conditions and runway maintenance at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.
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