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The SNCF will face justice, Monday, April 25, following the derailment of a train in Brétigny-Sur-Orge station, July 12, 2013. Has the chain of responsibility been underestimated? A team from France Télévisions has met victims, who are asking for explanations.
On July 12, 2013, an Intercités train derailed at Brétigny-Sur-Orge station (Essonne), hitting the platform. Jean-Luc Marissal was injured during the accident. “I had bruises on my face, on my body, on my arms, pieces of glass on my legs”, he recalls. Seven people lost their lives in the crash, and nearly 300 were injured. After five years of investigation, hundreds of hearings and expert appraisals, one conclusion: a splint, a sort of metal clip that holds the rails together, is the cause of the accident.
It had been reported as defective a few days earlier. The SNCF was accused of having neglected the maintenance of its tracks, and of having tried to cover up the affair by putting pressure on certain employees. The company and a railway worker will be tried from Monday April 25 for manslaughter. This is insufficient according to the victims. “Behind it are human beings who, because they did not do their job well, caused the death or injury of other human beings”shares Florence Jeannot, who lost her mother in the accident.