Parisians are braced for rush-hour chaos today as a nationwide strike was expected to cripple the public transport system and give President Nicolas Sarkozy his first real test after five months in office.

Rescue workers worked through the night to free bodies from the crumpled wreckage of a passenger train that collided head-on with a freight train near France’s north-eastern border with Luxembourg, killing at least five people.

Two trains collided today in north-eastern France close to the border with Luxembourg, killing at least four people, local officials and the French national rail operator said.