A TGV enters Paris Montparnasse station.

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Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP

  • Traffic between Paris and La Rochelle had been severely disrupted since Friday evening, due to freezing rains.

  • Installations were taken by frost and trees fell on the tracks.

  • The return to normal took place this Sunday afternoon.

Traffic was disrupted all weekend on the entire Paris-Poitiers-La Rochelle TGV line.

The return to normal comes this Sunday afternoon, in both directions, after the freezing rains on Friday which severely disrupted rail traffic in the Center-West, we learned from the SNCF.

"At Sunday 3 pm, we are back to normal on the Poitiers railway junction", through which the TGVs pass to La Rochelle in particular, explained a spokesperson for SNCF.

No TGV was able to take the entire Paris-Poitiers-La Rochelle route between Thursday evening and Sunday afternoon, because of the freezing rains that enveloped Vienne and Deux-Sèvres from Thursday night to Friday and prevented equipment (switches, catenaries) from functioning.

Ice-trapped facilities

“It was an exceptional situation.

The trains were no longer picking up the current, the catenaries were caught in a matrix of ice sometimes one centimeter thick which could not thaw on Saturday, ”explained a spokesperson.

Trees had also fallen on the tracks between Poitiers and La Rochelle, according to the same source.

Around this rail node affected by bad weather, the SNCF had set up a substitute shuttle system on Saturday with thermal-powered TERs and buses, restoring traffic but with changes.

About fifteen trains had to be removed on Friday and Saturday, however, according to the spokesperson.

The warmth that took place on Sunday finally allowed the facilities trapped by the ice to thaw.

Météo-France had placed four departments (Vendée, Deux-Sèvres, Indre and Vienne) on a snow-ice red alert on Thursday evening.

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