(Caen) Sabotage on the Cherbourg-Paris rail line – for a “Black Spring” in 2026
Indymedia Lille, 27 avril 2026
On the night of April 26, exactly forty years to the day after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, an SNCF signal light was sabotaged along the Cherbourg-Paris line, near Caen. The fire was set in the signal’s electrical cabinet alongside the tracks.
According to the SNCF and the press, this “act of vandalism” is causing train delays of at least 30 minutes in both directions on the Cherbourg–Caen–Paris and Caen–Coutances–Granville–Rennes lines on April 27. Service is expected to return to normal by 5:00 p.m.
This act of sabotage is part of the call “Hotter Than Nuclear—For a Black Spring in 2026,” which urges people “to take advantage of the spring months to launch a massive wave of actions against ongoing projects, financiers, and accomplices of the nuclear industry in a targeted, decentralized, subversive, and autonomous manner.” It is also a direct response to the eviction from La Gare de Luméville, a historic site of resistance against the CIGEO project and the nuclear industry. La Gare is located along the route of the railroad line that ANDRA plans to rehabilitate and then connect to the SNCF network to transport tons of radioactive waste to the future CIGEO nuclear waste repository in the Meuse department.
This act of sabotage targets the SNCF network because the railroad is a key infrastructure for the nuclear industry, as well as for the military sector and the industrial system as a whole. This rail line is a good example: nuclear waste is regularly transported along it in Castor trains to the ORANO reprocessing plant in La Hague, or in the opposite direction. Furthermore, it serves as a logistical backbone for transporting all types of equipment used in the nuclear industry, and it is a major route for nuclear engineers traveling to La Hague, the Flamanville power plant, or the research centers in Caen and Saclay. Its smooth operation is therefore of strategic importance to the nuclear establishment.
Fire was chosen to effectively destroy the signal’s housing and electrical cables, to send smoke signals in solidarity with the anarchists targeted by repression in Germany for a fiery anti-nuclear action against the Berlin-Adlershof technology park, and to warm hearts wounded by the atrocity of Chernobyl and other mass crimes of the nuclear industry.
Targeting the SNCF is also an opportunity to recall a proposal made in 2022 by “three brigands” during the jack-based sabotage of the railway line that ANDRA hopes to rehabilitate and connect to the network for CIGEO: “We call for attacks on the construction sites for this connection from the very beginning and before work even starts! We call for decentralized actions on the day physical work begins on the section — actions that would target the equipment of the SNCF and its subsidiaries, as well as the companies participating in the work, thereby exposing them for what they are: actors in the nuclear industry.” Let’s get ready!
You have the power; we have the night!
Down with CIGEO! Down with nuclear power!
Acts of Sabotage on the SNCF Line? An Investigation Is Underway; Train Service Disrupted All Day in Normandy
France3, April 27, 2026
Damage to the SNCF tracks between Caen and Bayeux occurred overnight from Sunday, April 26, to Monday, April 27, 2026. While service has not come to a complete halt, some trains have been canceled, and delays are expected through the late afternoon.
As dawn broke over Calvados, SNCF Réseaux staff detected a signaling failure between Caen and Bayeux. The “system malfunction” affects the Paris–Caen–Cherbourg and Caen–Coutances–Granville–Rennes lines.
According to posts published by the SNCF Nomad network on social media, this appears to be an act of vandalism. It is believed to have been committed in the western part of the Caen metropolitan area, not far from the Bretteville-Norrey station. The damage assessment, which began around 6:30 a.m., took longer than expected, as the damage was more extensive than initially estimated.