After reaching a peak of some 870km, "all the slowdowns and traffic jams are over," said Bison Futé, the public service responsible for road information, at the start of the evening.

Attention was mainly focused in the morning on Thalys, the high-speed train – a subsidiary of the SNCF – which connects Paris to Brussels, then to the Netherlands and north-west Germany.

Suspended on Friday afternoon after a motor vehicle struck an animal near Tournai (western Belgium), traffic resumed on Saturday morning.

Not without some disorder, since the Franco-Belgian company had to transport the thousands of passengers left at the quay the day before.

Several hundred passengers had spent the night in trains, in Paris-Nord and Bruxelles-Midi.

"We can understand that there are accidents. What we blame Thalys for is the lack of communication. It's + manage +", lamented in particular Sarah Duray, a Belgian passenger who does not was unable to take her usual medical treatment due to this unplanned night away from home.

The situation returned to normal during the day, according to the SNCF.

The public company expects 1 million travelers in its TGV and Intercités on this crossover weekend, one of the busiest of the year.

At the end of the morning, another incident raised fears of the worst: a fire quickly reduced near Montélimar (Drôme), between the Autoroute du Soleil and the high-speed line linking Lyon to the Mediterranean, interrupted the circulation of TGV Méditerranée .

The TGVs were immediately diverted to the classic line, which caused "delays of 45 to 60 minutes", but the three trains already engaged were between 2 and 3 hours late, said a spokesperson for the company. at AFP.

The circulation of trains resumed at midday, after a big hour of interruption, according to him.

The fire, which started from a rest area on the A7 motorway in the town of Allan (Drôme), was fixed after burning 3 hectares, according to firefighters.

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More than 870 km of traffic jams

On the roads, the situation was as expected difficult, this day being classified black in the direction of departures and red for the returns.

But the traffic jams were less important than last year at the same time: according to Bison Futé, the peak was reached at 11:30 a.m. with 871.50 km of cumulative traffic jams, against 1,096 km at noon in 2021.

"The situation is in line with forecasts. The main traffic difficulties are on the A10 and A9," said Bison Futé.

The A10, which connects the Paris region to Bordeaux, experienced up to more than 100 km of traffic jams at the end of the morning, and the A9 (Orange-Spain) 85 km of traffic jams.

However, the situation improved after midday, with a second peak, quickly absorbed, of 550 km of cumulative traffic jams around 4:00 p.m.

Fewer traffic jams are expected on Sunday, a day classified as orange in the direction of departures.

In the direction of returns, traffic should become more fluid.

In the air, traffic was fluid, according to a spokeswoman for Paris Aéroports (ADP).

"It's going well," although there was "a bit of a wait," she said.

A breakdown in the Air and Border Police (PAF) system complicated matters in the morning, before it was repaired, she added.

© 2022 AFP