Paris (AFP) – The unearthing of a 500-kilogramme World War II bomb near tracks outside Paris on Friday halted traffic and stranded thousands of passengers in one of the biggest rail disruptions in the French capital for years.

On Friday morning all traffic to the Gare du Nord train station – France’s busiest railway terminus serving international trains to London and mainland Europe, high-speed and local connections – was halted as police worked to disable the device.

Hours later, France’s transport minister said services from Gare du Nord, which is located in the north of the French capital, would gradually resume from 1700 GMT Friday.

The defusing operations were “finally over” and went well, Philippe Tabarot said, adding that the 500-kilogramme bomb “contained 200 kilogrammes of explosives”.

All Eurostar trains heading to and from Paris, including the popular service to and from London through the Channel Tunnel, were cancelled for the rest of Friday.

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The unexploded bomb was found “near the tracks” about 2.5 kilometres (1.5 miles) from the station overnight during maintenance work carried out in the northern Paris suburb of Saint Denis, the national SNCF rail company said.

The ordnance dating back to World War II was discovered about 200 meters north of the Paris ring road.

Around 200 nearby residents were evacuated by police.

The prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis requested that people living less than 500 metres (yards) from the site stay indoors.

Part of the ring road and the A1 motorway were closed, with officials reporting traffic jams extending 200 kilometres outside Paris.

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