Unexploded World War 2 bomb found near major Paris train station disrupts services

PARIS: The discovery of an unexploded bomb dating back to World War Two severely disrupted traffic to and from Paris’ bustling Gare du Nord, the world’s third-busiest train station, on Friday.

The disruption is affecting commuter rails and national and international trains, including Eurostar services.

Eurostar planned to cancel all trains to and from Gare du Nord, a company spokesperson told Reuters. Its website advised travellers to reschedule their trips.

The bomb was found 2.5 km (1.55 miles) from Gare du Nord, in the middle of the tracks, one of the network’s train lines, the H Line, said in a post on messaging platform X.

It said train traffic would remain disrupted until the de-mining operation was completed.

Paris police said the bomb had been discovered at 3:30 a.m. (0230 GMT) in Saint-Denis, a northern Parisian suburb, during construction work. Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot expected the disruption to continue for at least the rest of the day.

About 220 million passengers pass through the Gare du Nord, Europe’s busiest train station, each year, travelling to and from destinations in northern France, and London, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, according to the Paris tourist office.

Clemence Fandard, an interface designer in Paris, said her 6:20 a.m. train to Amsterdam was initially delayed for 45 minutes before being cancelled.

“I had heard reports of these things happening from time to time,” Fandard said, adding: “We were unlucky!”

Another traveller, Kasman Ibrahimi, said he had planned to catch a train to Cologne in Germany from Gare du Nord but would now look for an alternative route.