Train services to and from Gare du Nord in Paris resumed from 18.00pm on Friday evening after a World War II bomb was successfully defused.
The explosive was discovered on Thursday night during track works north of the French capital. Mobility Minister Philippe Tabarot confirmed that national rail services could resume, but international Eurostar trains will remain cancelled until Saturday morning.
The discovery of the bomb caused major disruptions to train traffic to and from one of the busiest stations in Europe. Gare du Nord handles around three hundred million passengers a year and is an important hub for national and international connections. In addition to trains from the Paris suburban network and high-speed trains from northern France, several Eurostar trains depart and arrive daily to and from Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom.
The dismantling operation was carried out by specialist bomb squads and, according to the authorities, took place without incident. However, the impact on rail traffic remained significant. Passengers travelling between London and Paris in particular were affected. Eurostar trains on the London-Paris, Paris-London, Brussels-Paris and Paris-Brussels routes were cancelled all day on Friday. These journeys will not be resumed until Saturday morning.
Despite the disruption, a number of international trains continued to run according to schedule. Trains on the Brussels-Marne la Vallée, London-Brussels and London-Amsterdam routes ran without interruptions, meaning that passengers from Belgium and the Netherlands to London were not inconvenienced.third, but they often cause significant temporary traffic disruptions.
Eurostar has offered affected passengers the opportunity to exchange their ticket for another day, subject to availability. Passengers can also request a full refund for their ticket. The company has apologised for the inconvenience in an official statement and said that an extra train service between London and Paris will be running on Saturday to accommodate passengers.
The discovery of explosives from the Second World War remains a recurring phenomenon in Europe. Particularly in countries such as France, Germany and the Netherlands, unexploded bombs are regularly found during infrastructure works. In most cases, these are detonated in a controlled manner or safely removed, but they often cause considerable temporary traffic disruption.
