Passenger head-butts driver, causing commuter chaos and worker strike on Paris subway

© Reuters / Charles Platiau

Paris experienced a commuter chaos on Wednesday night, after an outraged passenger attacked a train driver on the RER A regional train line on the outskirts of the French capital.

In the suburb of Torcy, the passenger set off the train alarm system after his hand got stuck in the closing doors, and then head-butted the driver, who had left his cabin to reset the alarm system.

OH.MY.GOD 0_0 Saint Lazare via @_yavin_ #RERA http://bit.ly/1CQ3TeR

- Daisy Lorenzi (@D_Lorenzi) January 29, 2015

The passenger then fled, and the train driver had to be taken to hospital with a broken nose, French newspaper Le Parisien reported.

Ici c'est Paris... RER A down... http://bit.ly/1yEUv7w

- Thierry Debarnot (@ThierryDebarnot) January 29, 2015

This could have ended there, but the attack caused a strike among other train drivers, in turn triggering disruptions on the RER A line. It runs through the city center, so commuter chaos began across the whole city.

Happy Thursday #RERA #Paris#Garesaintlazare#RATPhttp://bit.ly/1yEUxw1

- Constance Millour (@constancemlr) January 29, 2015

Additional buses had to be arranged to take angry passengers to their workplace, but still havoc reigned at major Metro stations such as St. Lazare.

Merci la ratp #RERA http://bit.ly/1yEUvnU

- trafalgar law (@hxdri) January 29, 2015

The Secretary of State for Transport has expressed his with the attacked driver, but said that the interruption of traffic on the busiest line in Europe

Agression sur le RER A trafic interrompu. Énorme bouchon voyageurs à St Lazare http://bit.ly/1CQ3Tvp

- Franck Lassagne (@FranckLassagne) January 29, 2015

Alain Vidal demanded

Tu annule le rer A et tu bloque le rer d et voila le résultat. Merci la #sncf #RERA #rerD #RATP #transport#qmlhttp://bit.ly/1yEUxwf

- Lawyer from Paris (@shavesp) January 29, 2015

RER A serves about 1 million passengers a day, connecting the western suburbs to the Defense business area and the city center.

Fashion week : superbe défilé RATP collection RER A http://bit.ly/1CQ3UzD

- Stéphane Kohler (@StephaneKohler) January 29, 2015

Chomsky: We Are All – Fill in the Blank.

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