AFP
This Paris regional train was parked on the tracks in the suburb of Saint-Denis as services ground to a halt
An unexploded World War Two bomb found near Gare du Nord station in Paris was defused on Friday after trains to and from the station – one of Europe’s biggest – were cancelled.
All Eurostar international services to and from the station were halted. Eurostar said its services would be back to normal on Saturday, and two extra return train journeys to London and Brussels had been added.
Local rail traffic resumed on Friday evening at Gare du Nord, but the French operators SNCF and RATP said the schedule remained disrupted.
French police evacuated 200 people from homes in Saint-Denis and temporarily closed part of the suburb’s main ring road.
The 500kg bomb was found two metres deep at a building site north of Gare du Nord, where rail workers were putting up a new bridge over the railway lines.
Eurostar’s Chief Safety and Stations Officer Simon Lejeune said the situation was “complex” and it was the “better option” to cancel all 32 services between London and Paris because it would give passengers “clarity” amid the “uncertainty”.
He said he was “incredibly sorry” for the travel disruption and the issues customers had faced accessing the Eurostar app.
He told travellers they should be able to access the website to change their booking, get a refund or get a voucher.
The bomb was discovered 200m away from the busy Paris périphérique, about 2.5km (1.5 miles) north of Gare du Nord, Europe’s busiest train station.
A nearby short northern stretch of the ring road and the A1 motorway were shut around Porte de la Chapelle. Traffic jams were recorded on 218km of roads in the Paris region.
Authorities in Saint-Denis said there were six schools and a care facility for elderly people inside the evacuation zon
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