French train services were canceled and delayed on Friday, after the nation's high-speed rail network faced a series of "malicious" acts overnight, including arson, just ahead of the opening of the Olympic Games in Paris. Railways operator SNCF said in a statement that its network had experienced several concurrent attacks on Thursday night, with fire damaging its facilities. The high-speed LGV Atlantique line was hit, along with northern and eastern lines, causing knock-on disruption that the operator expected will impact hundreds of thousands of people. "Following this massive attack aiming to paralyze the high-speed line network, a large number of trains were diverted or canceled," SNCF said, according to a CNBC translation, advising those who are able to not to travel to the station. The impact also hit international Eurostar services, which connect the U.K., France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.

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Organizations: Paris, Olympic Games, SNCF, Atlantique, CNBC, Eurostar, Lille Locations: Gare Montparnasse, Paris, Paris . Railways, Paris's, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany