Parisian holidaymakers were left stranded on Friday after a fire shut down Montparnasse train station.

Smoke billowed out of a substation run by the national transport network in Issy-les-Moulineaux, leading to the evacuation of 2,500 people and a power cut for 16,000 homes, authorities said.

It also shut down rail traffic at the station, which is a major link to west and southwest France, affecting about 100,000 travelers, according to rail operator SNCF.

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It is one of the busiest weekends of the year for travel in France, with early holidaymakers returning home and others leaving for vacations in August.

The Interior Ministry said 50,000 police and gendarmes would be mobilized for the next two weekends.

Trains later resumed, diverted to Austerlitz station, but SNCF advised all passengers to put off their journeys if they are able to do so.

aw/tj (AFP, Reuters, dpa)