French rail sabotage cancels multiple Paris-London Eurostar trains

Several Eurostar trains between Paris and London were cancelled Friday after a massive sabotage attack on France's high-speed rail network, the company said.

"All trains departing and towards Paris will be diverted onto the normal line on Friday," Eurostar said on its website, meaning they will take an extra 90 minutes on a route that usually takes around two hours and 20 minutes.

France's high-speed rail network was hit by arson attacks hat disrupted travel for hundreds of thousands of passengers on Friday, just hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.

A source close to the investigation told AFP the attacks were coordinated acts of "sabotage".

"This is a massive attack on a large scale to paralyse the TGV network," SNCF told AFP, adding that many routes would be cancelled.

"SNCF was the victim of several simultaneous malicious acts overnight," the national train operator said, adding that the attacks affected its Atlantic, northern and eastern lines.

"Arson attacks were started to damage our facilities," it said, adding that traffic on the affected lines was "heavily disrupted" and the situation would last through the weekend as repairs are conducted.

SNCF chief executive Jean-Pierre Farandou said 800,000 passengers were affected.