France's high-speed TGV rail network has been damaged by a "concerted campaign of sabotage", BBC reported on Wednesday, citing the SNCF state-owned rail operator.

Acts of sabotage overnight, including fires, caused huge delays to TGV services already hit by a long transport union strike over reforms.

The rail operator blamed militants for the attacks on lines in the north, east and south-west of the country, saying they wanted to harm ongoing talks to end the strike.

President Nicolas Sarkozy said the saboteurs would be severely punished.

A large fire on the TGV's Atlantic branch that damaged signals affecting 30km of track.

Union officials deplored the attacks as acts of vandalism, warning that they put people's safety at risk.

The open-ended rail strike is over planned changes to the pension system by President Nicolas Sarkozy, who meanwhile urged the protesters to go back to work.

The TGV network was targeted several hours after French Labour Minister Xavier Bertrand said he hoped that talks between rail unions and the government would help end the strike.

The government has said there could be incentives of salary rises and a top-up scheme for pensions but stressed that there will be no budging on eliminating special pensions which allow 500,000 transport and utility workers to retire early.

The week of strikes has caused havoc for millions of commuters across France and was costing France up to EUR 400 M a day.

Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said that hundreds of thousands of civil servants joined striking transport and energy workers over what they say is an erosion in their earnings and proposals to slim France's large public sector.

But President Sarkozy said reforms were overdue and that they were necessary "to confront the challenges set by the world".

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