Paris train tracks attacked hours before Olympics opening

Hours ahead of the Olympic Opening Ceremony in Paris, the French railway company SNCF says it's been hit by a series of "malicious acts" aimed at paralysing its high-speed network, BBC reports.

"Last night, the SNCF was the victim of several acts of vandalism on the Atlantic, Northern and Eastern high-speed lines. Fires were deliberately set to damage our installations," the SNCF said in a statement.

Posting on social media, French Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete wrote: "Co-ordinated malicious acts targeted several TGV lines last night and will seriously disrupt traffic until this weekend.

"I strongly condemn these criminal actions which will compromise the vacation departures of many French people."

Vergriete went on to thank SNCF staff on trying to restore services "as quickly as possible".

AFP news agency reported comments they have received from a source close to the investigation who says the arson attacks were acts of "sabotage".

Their source added that the attacks were "evidently co-ordinated", according to the news agency.

SNCF company has warned rail passengers who can postpone their trip to do so.

SNCF is advising travellers "not to go to the station" - a reminder only the Atlantique, Nord and Est lines of the TGV network are impacted.

The Atlantique goes from Paris to Bordeaux, the Nord goes from Paris to Lille and the Est takes passengers from Paris to Strasbourg.

The rail firm says tickets for these disrupted journeys are exchangeable and refundable.

"Following this massive attack aimed at paralyzing the high-speed line network, a large number of trains were diverted or cancelled," SNCF reiterates in a social media post.

Eurostar services in France to and from Paris are being diverted and several trains have been delayed, the rail firm says in a statement.

The high-speed line between Paris and Lille has been affected while journey times have increased by 90 minutes following "coordinated acts of malice in France", it says.

Several trains have been cancelled, it adds.

Trains between Paris and London are still running on "classic" lines but passengers can expect journey times to be an hour longer.

The Olympic spotlight is set to finally fall on the French capital on Friday evening at 7:30 pm (1730 GMT), when a wildly ambitious opening parade on the river Seine begins. The centre of Paris is set to be locked down by 45,000 police and gendarmes, 10,000 soldiers, and around 22,000 private security guards on Friday evening.