Commuters across the Paris region faced significant travel chaos on Wednesday morning as a power supply failure near Paris Gare du Nord severely disrupted traffic on the RER B and RER D lines, according to SNCF.
Widespread Impact Across the Network
On the RER B, traffic was “heavily disrupted across the entire line following an external power supply failure affecting the whole northern section of the network,” SNCF announced on X. The RER D also experienced disruptions, with traffic affected in both directions between Orry-la-Ville and Corbeil-Essonnes via Évry Courcouronnes, as well as between Goussainville and Melun.
The H and K lines were also impacted by the incident, though SNCF confirmed that service on those lines has since been restored.
Cause of the Outage
Speaking to Le Parisien, the rail operator stated that “the incident began at around 10 a.m.” and resulted from “a power supply defect from the provider in the substations that feed the trains.”
Beyond the rail network, the power failure also affected approximately 230,000 households across Hauts-de-Seine, Val-d’Oise, and the northern arrondissements of Paris, according to grid operator RTE. “We were able to quickly regain control and restore power, as the outage lasted only seven minutes,” RTE told Le Parisien.
Return to Normal Expected
SNCF said it hopes for a return to normal service by approximately 1:30 p.m. This is not the first time that Paris transit has been hit by such an incident. In mid-August, the RER B and D were also heavily disrupted by a power failure at Gare du Nord, raising fresh concerns about the resilience of the capital’s commuter rail infrastructure.
