Christmas travel chaos: Thousands of SNCF passengers stranded for hours near Paris

RFI

25 December 2024 at 5:56 am·1-min read

Passengers by a TGV high speed train at the Montparnasse station in Paris,

Thousands of passengers faced significant delays on Christmas Eve as SNCF trains were blocked for several hours near Paris. The disruption, caused by a "person accident" on the high-speed Southeast line in southern Seine-et-Marne around 8pm, affected multiple long distance TGV and Ouigo services.

Train circulation was disrupted throughout the evening, with some passengers only reaching their destinations in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

While SNCF initially estimated delays of up to 90 minutes, many travellers experienced much longer wait times

At Paris Gare de Lyon, the Lyria Lausanne-Paris train was reported to be five hours late, while TGV services from Lyon Perrache and Marseille to Paris showed delays of four hours and 40 minutes and four hours and 50 minutes, respectively

Frustrated passengers took to social media to express their disappointment:

-"Ruined Christmas Eve + 5-hour delay".

-"Christmas spoiled! Thanks, SNCF".

-"Merry Christmas! 5-hour delay, almost seems like a joke".

"Christmas Eve is a bit ruined," complained one traveller. "Seven hours of travel instead of the planned two hours, on Christmas Eve, it's original"

"Great, I am stuck in a TGV, no water, no food. Really, thank you for this Christmas Eve, SNCF," wrote a traveller using the X-name Lifeisnotdaijobou.

French railways reported that some 10 trains were stopped, affecting several thousand passengers.

(With newswires)

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