WWII bomb found on tracks to Paris Gare du Nord train station, halting traffic

Unexploded ordnance found ‘in the middle of the tracks’ during maintenance work; all trains to the station, including Eurostar, are stopped

By Agencies 7 March 2025, 10:08 am

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This picture taken in Paris on April 28, 2024 shows a Thalys train of French railway company SNCF at Gare du Nord railway station. (JOEL SAGET / AFP)

Traffic at the Paris Gare du Nord train station was halted on Friday after a World War II bomb was found on tracks leading to France’s busiest terminal, officials said.

The unexploded bomb was found “in the middle of the tracks” overnight during maintenance work carried out in the area of Saint Denis suburb, the national SNCF rail company said.

The bomb “dated to the Second World War,” the RER B suburban train wrote in a post on X.

All traffic to the train station, which hosts Eurostar trains as well as high-speed and local services, was closed as Paris police worked to disable the device.

The Gare du Nord train station lies in the north of Paris and is the country’s busiest rail terminal, serving an estimated 700,000 people each day, according to the SNCF.

Bombs left over from World War I or World War II are regularly discovered around France but it is very rare to find them in such a people-packed location.