Mike Storey Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 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 5 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pacific231G Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 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. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted March 5, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 5, 2020 Best wishes to the injured for a speedy recovery. As we are suffering at work from multiple slips and flooding it’s high in our thoughts too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted March 6, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 6, 2020 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. 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwin_m Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 Plenty of Victorian earthworks are showing their weakness, but it's a worry if a nearly new one built to modern standards slips like this. 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted March 6, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 6, 2020 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. 1 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southernman46 Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 (edited) 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 March 6, 2020 by Southernman46 4 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnDMJ Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 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! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philou Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 (edited) 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 March 6, 2020 by Philou 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Storey Posted March 7, 2020 Author Share Posted March 7, 2020 As someone else has said, strange that this happened to a relatively new formation - the results of the investigation will be interesting. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ian Smeeton Posted March 7, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 7, 2020 Perhaps we should produce export versions of Andersons Piano Regards Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnDMJ Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 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. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartingram Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 Where was Jenny Aguther when she was needed? Stewart 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philou Posted March 8, 2020 Share Posted March 8, 2020 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 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted March 8, 2020 Share Posted March 8, 2020 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 ) 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philou Posted March 8, 2020 Share Posted March 8, 2020 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 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwin_m Posted March 8, 2020 Share Posted March 8, 2020 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. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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