On November 14, 2015, eleven people died in the accident of a TGV test train in Eckwersheim, near Strasbourg, in Bas-Rhin. From this Monday March 4, 2024, nine years after the events, the trial opens before the Paris Criminal Court.
That day, the news was dominated by the attacks in Paris the day before. On November 14, 2015, the only fatal accident in the history of the TGV occurred in Eckwersheim, near Strasbourg, in Bas-Rhin.
The tragedy left eleven dead and 42 injured among the 53 passengers, made up of railway workers, technicians and their loved ones invited on board, recalls in particular Le Figaro.
Nine years after the events, the SNCF, two of its subsidiaries and three employees appear, from this Monday, March 4, 2024, before the Paris Criminal Court for “injuries and manslaughter caused by clumsiness, imprudence, negligence or breach of an obligation of safety”. The magistrates will have to decide in particular on this question: could the tragedy have been avoided?
The accident
The accident with the test train occurred around 3 p.m. on November 14, 2015. The SNCF was then in the testing phase on the East high-speed line (LGV) which should connect Paris to Strasbourg in less two hours.
What the experts showed
Expertise showed that instead of traveling at 176 km/h, the test train was traveling at 265 km/h, almost 100 km/h faster than expected. Late braking is blamed by experts. The train found itself scattered in the surrounding fields, the engine ended up in the Marne-Rhine canal, described in particular France 3.
The trial
From this Monday March 4 and for two and a half months, around a hundred civil parties and their lawyers will face the SNCF and their subsidiaries SNCF Réseau and Systra, responsible for the tests, recalls France 3. Three men are also accused: those who were in the cabin that day, including the driver.