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TGV derailment at speed 05 March near Strasbourg


Mike Storey
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Reports of another train derailment, at speed, on the LGV Est - this time a passenger train, 30 Km north west of Strasbourg, and not at all far from where the test train crashed before the line was opened. Jinxed, or what? Fortunately no deaths, but a number of injuries, and the train remained largely intact, only the first three vehicles being de-railed. Few details as yet available.

 

https://www.thelocal.fr/20200305/french-tgv-driver-hurt-after-derails-on-strasbourg-to-paris-line?utm_source=piano&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=213&tpcc=newsletter_members&pnespid=lPU8u.FXBAGNJVG6Y_JLt78QN66Ss3gaxRe0yC4

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The derailment was apparently due to a a serious land slip which displaced the track .  

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ESVU-pLX0AAQJsM?format=jpg&name=small

https://image.assets.pressassociation.io/v2/image/production/c0ec8f61cb9ceb09ae58c78ac1070b6fY29udGVudHNlYXJjaCwxNTgzNDk3OTgw/2.51153349.jpg?w=640

There has been heavy rain in that part of France. The driver is reported to have been seriously injured with a crushed chest and was airlifted to hospital but according to SNCF "is exprected to live". Reports of about twenty injuries including a serious back injury to the conductor and a facial injury to one of the passengers, most others relatively mild.

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Exceptional rainfall across much of NW Europe so far this year. This time last year lawns had been cut. This year farmers can't even put a tractor onto many fields hereabouts, and crops sown late last year are not prospering as expected. Frightening times for railway formations, no doubt. 

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10 hours ago, Pacific231G said:

The derailment was apparently due to a a serious land slip which displaced the track .  

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ESVU-pLX0AAQJsM?format=jpg&name=small

https://image.assets.pressassociation.io/v2/image/production/c0ec8f61cb9ceb09ae58c78ac1070b6fY29udGVudHNlYXJjaCwxNTgzNDk3OTgw/2.51153349.jpg?w=640

There has been heavy rain in that part of France. The driver is reported to have been seriously injured with a crushed chest and was airlifted to hospital but according to SNCF "is exprected to live". Reports of about twenty injuries including a serious back injury to the conductor and a facial injury to one of the passengers, most others relatively mild.

Poor driver. Imagine coming round the bend at linespeed and seeing that ahead. I hope he recovers fully.

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Years ago on a cab ride from Ashford - Lille the driver demonstrated his faith in the in-cab signalling to me by pulling the front window blind right down with the comment "at this speed if you can see it - it's too late already !"

Edited by Southernman46
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7 hours ago, Southernman46 said:

Years ago on a cab ride from Ashford - Lille the driver demonstrated his faith in the in-cab signalling to me by pulling the front window blind right down with the comment "at this speed if you can see it - it's too late already !"

 

Hence the TVM430 in cab 'signalling' system!

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On the lunchtime and evening news here (France 2), they showed the pictures of the TGV that considering the speed at which it hit the slip was relatively undamaged - even the cab. It was the sudden impact that apparently thrust the driver forward from his seat and into the panel (no seat belt - which is normal) that caused his injuries. The train stayed upright thankfully, due to the articulated stock rather than individual coaching stock.

 

The landslip was quite substantial. Though the bank was at a shallow angle with, if I recall correctly, berms, it was relatively deep. The slip, following a typical slip circle pattern, started at the top over what looked like a two coach length. Though little arrived onto the 4 foot itself, it formed a bank about 1m high along the nearside rail, deflecting the loco over onto the opposite track and leaving it almost straddling the rails with its forward bogie. I didn't have time to see how many of the following coaches left the rails - but there were a few, perhaps three or so.

 

There was a long shot of the track on approach to the slip and from the pictures, the slip may have caused the formation to move, a little distance further away as there was a very definite and substantial kink in the track, that in my view would not have been caused by the train as there was no other damage visible.

 

Its not the only recent landslip of note, as Line U feeding one of the main arteries in Paris has been cut for going on four/five weeks. This one is nowhere as large but is in a deep cutting right alongside a tunnel mouth, so there may be other issues. The locals have been muttering that 'two men and a barrow would have sorted this out weeks ago'.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

 

 

Edited by Philou
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20 hours ago, Philou said:

On the lunchtime and evening news here (France 2), they showed the pictures of the TGV that considering the speed at which it hit the slip was relatively undamaged - even the cab. It was the sudden impact that apparently thrust the driver forward from his seat and into the panel (no seat belt - which is normal) that caused his injuries. The train stayed upright thankfully, due to the articulated stock rather than individual coaching stock.

 

 

As you say, articulated stock has, again saved the day. I shudder to think what would have been the outcome if the train had been an E320 Eurostar or any of the DB ICEs cleared for that route.

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I was having a think in bed about what I wrote above regarding the kink in the track - it may of course been down to the loco ploughing its way along the ballast on its way as it did end up straddling both tracks. The shot they showed was the landslip but with all the stock removed, so I couldn't gauge the position of the kink relative to the train.

 

I don't know the formal procedures over here - I expect there is the equivalent of the RAIB - but I'm not sure if the findings are made public in much the same way as in the UK.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

 

 

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6 minutes ago, Philou said:

I was having a think in bed about what I wrote above regarding the kink in the track - it may of course been down to the loco ploughing its way along the ballast on its way as it did end up straddling both tracks. The shot they showed was the landslip but with all the stock removed, so I couldn't gauge the position of the kink relative to the train.

 

I don't know the formal procedures over here - I expect there is the equivalent of the RAIB - but I'm not sure if the findings are made public in much the same way as in the UK.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

 

 

Philip,

The French equivalent of RAIB is BEA-TT  ( http://www.bea-tt.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/les-transports-ferroviaires-r9.html )

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Thanks to @Fat Controller, there is quite a table of inquiry reports and recommendations if you follow the links with some résumés in English too. I had a quick look and it seems I have some additional reading matter!!!

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

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29 minutes ago, Philou said:

I was having a think in bed about what I wrote above regarding the kink in the track - it may of course been down to the loco ploughing its way along the ballast on its way as it did end up straddling both tracks. The shot they showed was the landslip but with all the stock removed, so I couldn't gauge the position of the kink relative to the train.

I think the train carried on some distance - 1.3km according to another forum - so probably still there at the time the photo was taken but too far away to be visible.  

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