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Video length: 2 min
Train derailment in 2015: the trial of a forgotten disaster
In the aftermath of the November 13 attacks, the news paid little attention to the derailment of a test TGV in Alsace, during which 11 people were killed and 42 others injured. The trial opened in Paris on Monday March 4.
(Franceinfo)
In the aftermath of the November 13 attacks, the news paid little attention to the derailment of a test TGV in Alsace, during which 11 people were killed and 42 others injured. The trial opened in Paris on Monday March 4.
The catastrophe seemed impossible, the TGV could not be derailed. But on November 14, 2015, the TGV Est derailed during a test session, with 53 people on board. Patrick Rolland was invited by his brother, a technician at the SNCF: “There were six of us, it was our family, my brother who didn’t come back, so it’s also for his memory.” An accident which left 11 dead and 42 injured. The TGV was simply going too fast when it approached a bend at 265 km/h, instead of the authorized 176
SNCF, two subsidiaries, and three employees judged
The trial for this disaster opened in Paris on Monday March 4. For the civil parties, this trial session was organized against common sense. “We knew very well that the TGV was going too fast. It braked too late because we made a mistake. We were not sufficiently trained, because we did not understand what the overspeed tests”, indicates Gérard Chemla, lawyer for the civil parties. The SNCF, two of its subsidiaries, and three employees, including the TGV driver, find themselves facing the judge.
