The SNCF was was fined 300,000 euros. Lhe two other defendants, an ex-railway worker and SNCF Réseau, were released in the case of the Brétigny rail disaster in July 2013.
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After eight weeks of trial, the SNCF was found guilty Wednesday, October 26 by the court of Evry of homicides and involuntary injuries, nine years after the railway disaster of Brétigny-sur-Orge (Essonne), which had killed seven people. and hundreds injured.
>> Train accident in Brétigny-sur-Orge: the article to read to understand the stakes of the trial, almost nine years after the disaster
The SNCF was sentenced to a fine of 300,000 euros, heavier than the 225,000 incurred, because of the state of legal recidivism of the company in matters of manslaughter, explained the president of the court, specifying that the SNCF had achieved a turnover of 34.8 billion euros in 2021. The SNCF is condemned for having failed in its maintenance mission, as criminal heiress of SNCF Infra, in charge of maintenance at the time of the facts.
On the other hand, the manager of the SNCF Réseau tracks (ex-Réseau Ferré de France) was released, as was Laurent Waton, a former railway executive, who had carried out the last surveillance tour, eight days before the tragedy.
On July 12, 2013, the pivoting of a splint, a sort of large staple joining two rails, caused the derailment of the Intercités Paris-Limoges, in Brétigny, south of Paris. This pivoting is, according to the court, the consequence of the evolution of a crack in one of the hearts of the track apparatus in question, a crack detected in 2008 but poorly monitored for five years. “This negligence of heart monitoring is definitely linked to the derailment”declared the president, sweeping the defense of the SNCF which attributed the accident to an undetectable defect in the steel.