TL:DR – “Suspected Arson and Sabotage Impact Italy on Winter Olympics Opening Day”
- Suspected arson in Bologna caused severe delays for train passengers on the first day of the Winter Olympics.
- Overhead wires on the Bologna-Venice line were damaged, leading to 45-minute suspensions and up to two-hour delays on services to Milan.
- Transport Minister Matteo Salvini labelled the incident an ‘act of criminality’, reflecting concerns over safety during the Olympics.
- No group has claimed responsibility; police are investigating the suspected attack on Italy’s rail network.
Suspected sabotage and arson hit Italy on first day of Winter Olympics | News World
Arsonists Target Overhead Wires in Bologna
Rail passengers are facing severe delays after a suspected arson damaged cables on the Italian network.
Trains were suspended for 45 minutes after a fire damaged a track switch and electrical cables used to measure train speeds in Bologna on the first day of the Olympic Winter Games.
The blaze, which targeted the Bologna-Venice line, has also caused delays of up to two hours on high-speed and intercity services to Milan.
Services to Venice, from where visitors can reach co-host Cortina, have also been disrupted.
Ferroviarie dello Stato, Italy’s state railway infrastructure manager, said it had ruled out a technical fault as a cause of the incident.
A police spokesperson said the incident was being treated as ‘presumably deliberate’ but said no group had claimed responsibility.
They added that transport and anti-terrorist police were at the scene investigating the suspected attack.
A separate fire was also reported on tracks near a station in the coastal town of Pesaro.
Passengers Face Major Disruptions
Italy’s transport minister Matteo Salvini called the fire an ‘act of criminality’ by ‘someone wishing Italy harm’.
Speaking from Bormio, where several Olympic events are taking place, he said: ‘I’m sorry that while I’m here in Bormio and everything is fine, I read news from Bologna where there’s been an attack on the train line that’s slowing everything down.
‘An act of delinquency. If it turns out the interruption to the high-speed train was the result of a premeditated attack, on the first day of the Olympics, let’s just say someone is wishing Italy harm.’
The incidents are an apparent echo of the 2024 Paris summer Olympics, when saboteurs targeted France’s TGV high-speed train network in a series of pre-dawn attacks across the country, causing travel chaos ahead of the opening ceremony.