France_Trains_Security Issue?
 

Time Magazine had an article last week (March 7) about a group (AZF) threatening to bomb France's railroads unless the government forks over a hefty ransom. The govt found a sophisticated bomb that had been planted along a line in central France, which ballistics experts detonated. I'm scheduled to board a train from Paris to Avignon in the next few weeks. Should I figure out alternate transportation or cross my fingers!

GoGo Girl: this post reminds me of one I posted a few weeks ago about taking british air from washington DC to Heathrow. I felt the same way you do right now. It's so unsettling to have to worry about this stuff isn't it? My best advice is to do what I did, do your thing and don't let the terrorists beat you down. It's scary, but the chances are so slim that anything will happen and then when you have done the trip, you will feel so empowered. We can't go through life trying to avoid incidents like the terrible bombings in Madrid this morning, it's impossible to predict where and when these madmen will strike.

Cross your fingers. They have beefed up security in the stations and have visually searched the tracks. AZF also indicated that it was not aiming at the high speed lines, only the regular rail. At least thats what they said on TV here. Just do what you need to and have a nice vacation. You will be fine.

I thought I'd read that kind of news item about France weeks ago, I think that is kind of old news, it happened about a month ago. I wouldn't worry about that, there are probably hundred or thousands of train runs in France every day.

There was a more recent incident too. People are waiting to see what the government plans to doin response to the group's demands.

Who is AZF?

I remember when the FLB bombed one of the two existing tv transmitters in the 70's and we didn't have tv for about 2 months. While we b*****d and moaned the whole time, we actually were kinda sad when it came back on...we'd been actually socializing and enjoying it!

About 2 years ago there was a problem with the TGV lines because striking railway workers had set fires in certain strategic places.

I'm getting ready to take a train at the end of this month on the very same line that the undetonated bomb was found on last week. I'm going.

The French have 2,000 security people literally walking the length of every RR track in France - knowing what French security can be like, that has gone a long way toward allaying my fears.

It is supposedly another Al-Qaeda-affiliated group planting the bombs, or threatening to do so. No other bombs have been found as yet, though, so perhaps it was an isolated incident. At any rate, I'm taking my train trip.

I'm also taking my planned TGV train trip to Avignon in May. We just can't live in constant fear of terrorists. They would like us to do that, and then they win do matter what they do.

We were in Paris on September 11th. Were a little scared for a while that we could not come back! (Canada Skyes were closed for a while). We did'nt change anything to our plans and we came back to Quebec on time as scheduled. We took the TGV to Vallée de la Loire on Sept 12th... nobody seemed nerveous, as if nothing happenned . Even though "Vigie Pirate" was in force everywhere in France, we saw only 3 soldiers in Gare Montparnasse... that's all! Medias get people scared. Life must go on even if tragic events, which is very sad however, tend to scare us. We will take the TGV from Paris to Aix-en-Provence in May, whatever happens till then!

AZF is a nebulous group of terorists who have demanded 4 million Euros and 1 million dollars from the French government or they will set off a bomb somewhere on the SNCF rail network in France. According to the government, about a month ago a bomb was found on the tracks outside of Toulouse.
They have named themselves after a chemical factory in Toulouse which blew up just after 9/11 - it was a major catastrophie as well.

As a local living in Provence, I can confirm that the government is putting every effort in place to provide added security. We see it all over. The French have unfortunately a long history of dealing with terrorists (due to problems with former colony Algeria). So when they act, it is efficient and very seriously done. Should this put your mind at ease? Ultimately, it's a very personal decision whether to travel or not under these circumstance.

After the recent events in Madrid I am a bit concerned about traveling by train. Anyhow, we will be on the Thalys from Antwerp to Paris on Monday morning. We won't let 'them' ruin our trip.

Even with the latest despicable terrorist actions, I still feel safer on a train. After all, if someone plants a bomb on the train, the majority of passengers do survive. But if the bomb is on a plane...however, how horrible that we have to deal with these threats when making travel plans! Sadly, there probably will be more attacks somewhere, it's very hard to prevent someone who is absolutely determined to wreak havoc and willing to die for his twisted cause, but to crawl into a shell only lets the terrorists win.

Being that the train is a French train, I think you should be more concerned about a strike by the rail employees.