Vacation traffic jams in France and Italy, trains run again in Paris after sabotage act

The highways to southern European vacation destinations, which are also used by many Dutch people this Saturday, became quite full during the morning, as reported by the ANWB on X. However, there are fewer traffic jams around Paris than in other summers, and the jams are only short, said an ANWB spokeswoman. "It's not that bad there. There are a few short traffic jams and only a few problems."

The ANWB had previously urged vacationers to avoid the French capital as much as possible in connection with the Olympic Games, which started on Friday evening.

Elsewhere in France, drivers have to queue for hours on the A7, the Autoroute du Soleil, between Lyon and Orange. There are also heavy traffic jams around Bordeaux.

In Austria, vacation traffic is causing delays on the A8 (Passau-Wels), the B179 near Fernpas, and the A10 (Tauernautobahn) before Villach. From Villach, there is a traffic jam at the Karawanken Tunnel in the direction of Slovenia.

Furthermore, the Gotthard Tunnel in Switzerland is jammed in both directions, especially towards the south. The waiting time in that direction has increased to an hour.

In Italy, there is a traffic jam on the A22 between Bozen (Bolzano) and Rovereto.

Seven out of ten trains in Paris run again after sabotage on track

Seven out of ten trains on major routes of the high-speed line around Paris can run on Saturday, although there are major delays, French railway company SNCF reported. On Friday, the day the Olympic Games opened in Paris, train traffic in the city was severely disrupted by sabotage.

On average, seven out of ten trains on the high-speed line are running north, to Brittany and to the southwest, according to SNCF. They are running with considerable delays of one to two hours, the railway company warns. Trains to and from the Netherlands use the line to the north. Only trains to the east have been running normally since Saturday morning.

The railway company says it has been working through the night to repair the damage. SNCF expects the timetable to be affected by canceled and significantly delayed trains on Sunday.

Rail company Eurostar has canceled one in five trains this weekend, a spokesperson reports. This also applies to trains to and from the Netherlands. "We expect everything to run as normal again on Monday," he says.

According to Eurostar, trains to and from Paris are expected to be delayed by around an hour and a half this weekend because they have to take a detour due to the sabotage. The carrier advises passengers to postpone their journey if possible. Customers can cancel or change their journey free of charge or get a refund, Eurostar said.