The French National Railway Company (SNCF) was sentenced this Thursday, October 10 to a fine of 400,000 euros by the Paris criminal court for its role in the TGV Est accident which caused the death of 11 people and caused 42 injuries during a test session on November 14, 2015 in Eckwersheim (Bas-Rhin).
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The SNCF, like five of the six other defendants, was found guilty of “homicide and involuntary injuries due to clumsiness, imprudence, negligence or breach of a safety obligation”. The engineering company Systra, responsible for the tests, which “ bears the greatest responsibility » in the accident, was sentenced to a fine of 225,000 euros. SNCF Réseau, responsible for track management, was fined 150,000 euros.
Three individuals were also tried by the court. The driver of the accident TGV, Denis T., absent from the hearing, was sentenced to seven months in prison. His colleague Francis L., also absent at the hearing, who was responsible for indicating braking points to the driver, received a suspended prison sentence of 15 months. Philippe B., a Systra agent responsible for informing the driver of the particularities of the track, was released.
The high-speed train (TGV), which was carrying out tests on the final portion of the Paris-Strasbourg high-speed line (LGV) on November 14, 2015 before its opening to the public, approached a curve at 265 km/h, very well above the 176 km/h planned at this location, due to a braking point that was too late. It derailed, hitting the parapet of the bridge over the Marne-Rhine canal near Eckwersheim, 20 kilometers from Strasbourg, at an estimated speed of 243 km/h.
The investigation established that neither the equipment nor the track could be blamed to explain the derailment of the TGV which was transporting 53 people, including 35 “guests”. This accident, which remains the worst disaster in the history of the TGV, was long obscured by the November 13 attackscommitted a few hours earlier in the Paris region.
Also readDerailment of a TGV test in Alsace: an “apocalyptic drama”