WWII bomb halts traffic at busy Paris train station
Rail traffic at Gare du Nord would remain ‘heavily disrupted all day.’
Rail traffic at Gare du Nord would remain ‘heavily disrupted all day.’
PARIS, France (AFP) — Traffic at the Paris Gare du Nord train station was halted on Friday after a World War II bomb was found on tracks leading to France’s busiest terminal.
The unexploded bomb was found “in the middle of the tracks” about 2.5 kilometers from the station overnight during maintenance work carried out in the northern Paris suburb of Saint Denis, the national SNCF rail company said.
The Gare du Nord station lies in the north of the French capital and is the country’s busiest train hub, hosting the Eurostar trains in addition to regional and suburban service, and seeing some 700,000 passengers daily, according to the SNCF.
The bomb “dated to the Second World War,” the RER B suburban train wrote in a post on X.
Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot warned that rail traffic at Gare du Nord would remain “heavily disrupted all day” on Friday, which usually sees an increase in commuters due to weekend travel.
Speaking to broadcaster Sud Radio, Tabarot called on travelers to “avoid going to the station” and postpone their trips, expressing hope that traffic could resume Friday afternoon.
