Rail services resume after computer glitch

Normal rail services at gare Montparnasse resumed on Monday after a computer glitch halted traffic in and out of the station and left thousands of passengers stranded at the Paris station, or at destinations to the south and west of the country.

The first train of the day - the 5.33am TER to Chartres - left the Paris station on time, SNCF said in a statement, while boards at the station show normal traffic according to reports - though the rail operator has warned of some disruption throughout the day as it clears a backlog of traffic.

A TGV to Bordeaux left 20 minutes behind schedule, while one to Nantes finally set off 40 minutes late, while other services may be cancelled, SNCF warned.

The failure, which stopped all rail traffic from shortly after 1.30pm on Sunday, is the second this year to cause major delays at the busy station. It occurred during the installation of a new computer system intended to increase the number of TGV services out of the station.

The 'computer problem' affected signalling and switching systems, which meant no services could operate.

At the end of July, the travel plans of thousands of tourists were disrupted after an electrical fault led to several days of delays and cancellations.

This latest incident has prompted transport Minister Elisabeth Borne to summon SNCF Réseau bossPatrick Jeantet to a meeting on Monday to explain how the company will work to ensure it does not happen again.

"This new incident is unacceptable, only a few months after July," the Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.