Loose fishplate appears to be cause of derailment at Bretigny-sur-Orge

[bikkuri bahn]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23298374

 

This has a CG simulation of the accident (French language):

http://www.francetvinfo.fr/faits-divers/accident-de-train-a-bretigny/video-l-eclisse-la-piece-a-l-origine-du-drame_369336.html

[Ochanomizu]

Hello Mr bikkuri bahn,

 

I am curious to know what train series was involved in the accident?

[marknewton]

Again, the reporting of this incident is by people with no knowledge of railway practice or terminology, but it sounds to me as though it may have been a turnout stretcher bar or possibly a facing point lock that failed and caused this derailment. Absolutely awful for the poor buggers killed and injured.

 

Mark.

[bikkuri bahn]

Hello Mr bikkuri bahn,

 

I am curious to know what train series was involved in the accident?

The service was a Paris-Limoges intercity service #3657, a loco-hauled service likely hauled by a Class BB26000 loco ("sybic").  This train is part of SNCF's network of conventional (non-TGV) intercity services ("les trains classiques").

 

http://www.intercites.sncf.com/trains-et-services/intercites

[Ochanomizu]

Hello Mr bikkuri bahn,

 

Thank you so much for this information.  I am relieved that it is not TGV service although, when I saw the wreck on TV I had assumed so.

[westfalen]

I's sure I actually heard TGV mentioned in one news report. Probably the same as the uninformed thinking the only trains in Japan are "Bullet Trains".

[bikkuri bahn]

Westy, I wouldn't be surprised.  However, there is reporting about the issue of govt. funding going mainly towards the high speed lines while neglecting the conventional "classiques" lines.

[westfalen]

Westy, I wouldn't be surprised.  However, there is reporting about the issue of govt. funding going mainly towards the high speed lines while neglecting the conventional "classiques" lines.

That might have been it and lost something in the translation. While I was travelling around France in 2008 I did get the opinion that the "classiques" lines were the kind of poor step child to the TGV.

[Nick_Burman]

That might have been it and lost something in the translation. While I was travelling around France in 2008 I did get the opinion that the "classiques" lines were the kind of poor step child to the TGV.

 I frequent the French-language forums from time to time and there are usually some very verbal comments about the treatment meted not only by SNCF but also by RFF (Réseau Ferrée de France, the national infrastructure operator) onto the normal network - run-down rolling stock (especially rural regional services), absurd schedules, dishevelled stations, closure of freight yards. French trains as a whole are looking very dowdy of late. And France (together with Italy and Spain) has been one of the laggards in following the EU directive on open access. SNCF Fret has been accused of ditching the wagonload network without giving customers (some of them very important) alternatives, making a poor job of running what remains (breakdowns, delays) and systematically sabotaging attempts by other operators into entering the French market (with RFF connivance).

 

Cheers NB

Edited July 15, 2013 by Nick_Burman

[bikkuri bahn]

A very interesting picture of the crane set up at the station forecourt at Bretigny being used for wreck cleanup:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-france-train-accident-20130714,0,2471969.story

[marknewton]

Interesting is the word - presumably the rigger/dogman would direct the crane driver via two-radio? A bugger of a job in dreadful circumstances.

 

bikkuri bahn, you were on the money about a loose fishplate being the cause of the derailment:

 

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/73879-derailment-in-bretigny-sur-orge/?p=1097228

 

All the best,

 

Mark.