Montparnasse: Rail chaos to continue at Paris station on Monday
Rail passengers in France faced more disruption to their holiday plans on Monday as engineers worked to restore power at Montparnasse rail station in Paris after it was cut following a fire at an electrical centre on Friday.
Rail chiefs say only 50 percent of trains will operate from Montparnasse station in Paris on Monday, three days after the fire at an electrical centre run by the national transport network in Issy-les-Moulineaux, southwest of Paris shut down all rail services to and from the station.
The power cut caused disruption throughout the weekend with scores of trains cancelled at Montparnasse on one of the busiest weekends of the year as tens of thousands of Parisians were due to head away on holiday.
Engineers promise that full power will be restored at some point between Monday evening and Tuesday evening, which meant ongoing travel misery for passengers.
On Monday rail chiefs SNCF promised to add extra carriages to the TGV trains in order to be able to carry more passengers. But some 115 mainline trains to and from Montparnasse have been cancelled.
Many of the trains that will still run will leave from nearby Gare Austerlitz instead.
Passengers without a ticket are urged to delay their journeys but those with tickets should visit the SNCF website for the latest information or download the SNCF app.
Or alternatively CLICK HERE for a full list of the cancelled trains on Monday.
Initially engineers at RTE said power would only be restored by Thursday, but it appears they have taken on board the request by SNCF to "act with urgency" to find a solution.
TGV Atlantique | Point Infotrafic #SNCF pour la journée du lundi 30 juillet 2018 pic.twitter.com/V9u4W27Ai3
— SNCF (@SNCF) July 29, 2018
Government ministers have announced that an investigation will take place into the fire and also look at the "fragility" of the electrical supply to Montparnasse station in order to avoid a repeat of the incident in future.
Montparnasse rail station runs services to Brittany in western France and also the south west coast, two regions popular with French and foreign holidaymakers.
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Rail chiefs say only 50 percent of trains will operate from Montparnasse station in Paris on Monday, three days after the fire at an electrical centre run by the national transport network in Issy-les-Moulineaux, southwest of Paris shut down all rail services to and from the station.
The power cut caused disruption throughout the weekend with scores of trains cancelled at Montparnasse on one of the busiest weekends of the year as tens of thousands of Parisians were due to head away on holiday.
Engineers promise that full power will be restored at some point between Monday evening and Tuesday evening, which meant ongoing travel misery for passengers.
On Monday rail chiefs SNCF promised to add extra carriages to the TGV trains in order to be able to carry more passengers. But some 115 mainline trains to and from Montparnasse have been cancelled.
Many of the trains that will still run will leave from nearby Gare Austerlitz instead.
Passengers without a ticket are urged to delay their journeys but those with tickets should visit the SNCF website for the latest information or download the SNCF app.
Or alternatively CLICK HERE for a full list of the cancelled trains on Monday.
Initially engineers at RTE said power would only be restored by Thursday, but it appears they have taken on board the request by SNCF to "act with urgency" to find a solution.
TGV Atlantique | Point Infotrafic #SNCF pour la journée du lundi 30 juillet 2018 pic.twitter.com/V9u4W27Ai3
— SNCF (@SNCF) July 29, 2018
Government ministers have announced that an investigation will take place into the fire and also look at the "fragility" of the electrical supply to Montparnasse station in order to avoid a repeat of the incident in future.
Montparnasse rail station runs services to Brittany in western France and also the south west coast, two regions popular with French and foreign holidaymakers.
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