Frankfurt-Paris train given all clear after alert

A Frankfurt to Paris train was stopped and cleared of passengers in eastern France after a bomb alert but bomb disposal experts later declared it safe, French state-run SNCF railway said yesterday.

Passengers left the train, which was stopped at about 4 p.m. local time (1400 GMT) at Epernay station near Reims after police received a call giving the alert. Bomb disposal experts checked the train and allowed it to depart around 7 p.m. (1700 GMT), SNCF said.

The bomb alert caused disruptions to trains between Paris and eastern France. Passengers on the Frankfurt-Paris train had been transferred to another train heading for the French capital.

"Unfortunately we have had a lot of bomb alerts since the London bombings and we have to take them all seriously," the SNCF spokesman said.