Paris: Traffic very disturbed at Montparnasse station after a fire on a substation

The traffic was very disrupted Friday Montparnbade station in Paris and should be still Saturday after a fire on a substation RTE, betting a difficult weekend for travelers cross-summer summer .

For the day Saturday, the SNCF is committed to circulate "at least" 70% of the 180 TGV planned from Montparnbade, said on BFMTV the deputy general manager of the SNCF, Mathias Vicherat. SNCF will refund 100% of ticket prices beyond three hours late.

After a total interruption at the end of the morning, the traffic resumed very partially at the beginning of the afternoon with three trains at the start and three trains at the arrival per hour at Montparnbade station, indicated the CEO of SNCF Réseau Patrick Jeantet at a press point.

Friday around 11:30, an electrical transformer RTE Issy-les-Moulineaux caught fire, cutting power stations SNCF, including relief, said Jeantet.

Some 16,000 households were deprived of power in several communes of Hauts-de-Seine, according to a prefectural source.

The power supply "can not be fully restored" Friday, announced RTE late afternoon.

Faced with strong disruption, SNCF advises its customers who can delay their trip.

"It is annoying, it is the total blur", laments to the AFP Eva Basin, 42 years old Parisian, who had to leave for Quimper. "I'm advised to postpone my ticket, but I only have one week of vacation!" She adds. "Tomorrow all trains will be complete, I will try to catch a bus."

SNCF has set up an alternative power supply plan for the station, allowing part of the trains to be run.

If the departure of the TGV to Brittany and Pays de la Loire remains in Montparnbade, those from or to the South-West are redirected to the station of Paris-Austerlitz.

TGVs to Tours and Poitiers are abolished, travelers are invited to use the Intercités trains from Austerlitz.

At the end of the day on Friday, the storms caused power supply problems that disrupted traffic in Parisian stations in the East and North, according to the SNCF.

Exasperation

On the scene of the fire in Issy-les-Moulineaux, the incident was circumscribed.

In the main alley of Montparnbade station, pbadengers were queuing in the afternoon in front of trolleys where employees of the SNCF distribute bottles of water during this heat wave.

Grouped around an SNCF agent, travelers hope to find answers. "My train is gone, what do I do?" exclaims a traveler. The agent, confused, tells him that "the majority of trains are reported at the Austerlitz station". "It's not marked for my train," replied the traveler, visibly annoyed.

Sarah Galauziaux, a 22-year-old student, is sitting on the floor against a photo booth.

She was going on holiday with her parents in Quimper: "It sucks me, it's not the first time it happens to me Montparnbade station and more", she gets angry.

"I'm going home, and take the train tomorrow, luckily, I'm on vacation, I do not have any imperatives," she tempers.

Last year, already at the Montparnbade station, the traffic had been paralyzed that same week-end because of a signaling failure. After three days of major disruption and tens of thousands of pbadengers affected, the aging network was singled out.

In December 2017, a computer bug on a switch station left thousands of travelers without transport in Montparnbade. In May 2016, a double breakdown had severely disrupted traffic in the same station.