Chaos in Paris Commute as RER Train Drivers Go on Strike Over Assault
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Version 0 of 1. PARIS — Railway traffic on Europe’s busiest commuter line came to a near standstill in Paris and its suburbs on Thursday as train drivers went on strike to protest the assault of a driver on Wednesday night. Commuters faced chaos and thousands of morning travelers were unable to take the A line of the railway network that links Paris to its suburbs, known as the RER. The A line runs through central Paris and stretches from the northwestern suburbs to the southeastern ones, linking busy hubs such as La Défense, the business district, and Disneyland Paris and carrying a million passengers a day. The disruption comes amid heightened security measures in France, after terrorist attacks in and around Paris that killed 17 people. The authorities have deployed over 10,000 troops across the country, with regular police or military patrols at large public transportation hubs. On its website, the French railway authority said that services on most branches of the A line were interrupted and that all nonconnecting RER A stations had been closed. On Thursday afternoon, the railway authority told the Agence-France Presse that traffic would slowly pick up again in the evening and that a meeting between unions and management was continuing. Pictures on social media Thursday morning showed jam-packed train stations and crowded platforms. The interruption was caused by a “spontaneous strike linked to the assault of a driver” at a station east of Paris, according to the railway authority. Cédric Gentil, a train driver on the A line, said that the driver assaulted Wednesday was attacked by a passenger shortly before 9 p.m. at the Torcy station, east of Paris. The train’s alarm was activated when a passenger became stuck in closing doors, and the driver had to leave his operating booth to reset it, Mr. Gentil said. The attacker then head-butted the driver, breaking his nose, and fled. It is unclear whether the attacker and the passenger who was stuck are the same person. In a statement, the French transportation minister Alain Vidalies expressed solidarity with the assaulted driver but called for an “adapted and responsible answer.” “The interruption of traffic on Europe’s most busy line, penalizing over a million users, without appropriate procedures or the intervention of union organizations, cannot be the right answer,” Mr. Vidalies said. |