An extremely rare accident which had not happened “for years” on the Bordeaux TBM transport network. It had to fall on Saturday evening, the day when Bordeaux Métropole celebrated with great fanfare the twenty years of the tramway in Bordeaux. 20 minutes questioned this Monday Pierrick Poirier, director of Keolis Bordeaux Métropole, who returns to the accident between two trains which occurred near the Porte de Bourgogne, and which paralyzed lines C and D of the tramway until Monday morning.
What happened ?
The incident occurred on Saturday evening shortly before 8 p.m. on Quai Richelieu, near Place de la Porte de Bourgogne, between a train from line D which collided with a train from line C which was arriving from the square. des Quinconces and returned to the Bastide depot. “We must understand that this area is a maneuvering zone,” explains Pierrick Poirier: “we already have three tram lines passing through it, with in addition trains from the Bastide depot which cross this area to be injected on lines C and D.” Saturday evening, “a train from line C showed up at Place de Bourgogne to cross the track, take the stone bridge and return to its depot, continues the director from Keolis. When a train makes this movement, it takes advantage of the rails of lines C and D to enter the track of line A.”
This crossing can obviously only be carried out in the total absence of a tramway from line C or D passing in the other direction. However, at that time there was a problem with railway signaling. “There was an untimely command: the switch moved when the line C train had to cross the track, the railway signaling wrongly considering that the track was freed, which was not the case. » It was at this moment that the collision occurred with the train of line D.
Has the situation returned to normal?
Yes, traffic returned to normal this Monday morning. “Sunday was devoted to “rerailing” the damaged train using a crane since the rear of the train had derailed. It was put back on the rails and towed to the Achard depot, which allowed the platform to be freed, and the condition of the bearing and the APS to be checked. [Alimentation par le sol], switches and railway signaling. » For the moment, the switch which allowed the movement has been “neutralized to prevent the incident from happening again” and “we are working to limit the number of crossings. »
Why did the traffic interruption take so long?
Pierrick Poirier underlines that the intervention itself on the immobilized tram train “was quite rapid, because the crane was in place around 3 p.m. on Sunday, and at 5:30 p.m. the train was on the rails, and was able to reach its depot towards 6:30 p.m. It lasted a little over three hours, for an operation of this complexity, that’s pretty good. » On the other hand, it was necessary “a certain number of authorizations before being able to deploy a crane of this size. » “It’s an exceptional convoy with a 70-ton crane, what’s more on a Sunday, and we also had to clear the area, that is to say remove cars, for installation. »
Is this the first time this incident has happened?
No, it’s the second time. “We already had an incident at the end of 2020 in identical circumstances in the same place, and since then we have put in place additional supervision by the PCC (Central Command Post), which we will further strengthen due to this new incident . » There will thus be “initially additional men to control the maneuver” and secondly a “reinforcement of the system using video cameras which will allow us to have precise visibility of the area “. At the same time, “we are working to allocate the trains [de chaque ligne] at each depot, so as to minimize the number of crossings. » Clearly, we need to review the organization of traffic.
Is this worrying in view of the increase from four to six tram lines in 2025?
In September 2025, the TBM network will be enriched with two new tram lines, lines E and F, which will also pass through the Porte de Bourgogne. It is in fact a question of allowing line C coming from Villenave d’Ornon to take the route of line A to go towards the airport, and in the other direction, coming from Blanquefort, to be able to run on the stone bridge to reach Floirac. This risks further complicating the situation at the Porte de Bourgogne, already considered by Keolis as a sensitive node? “No,” assures Pierrick Poirier, “because work is already scheduled from May 2025 to completely replace the railway signaling machine. » Work which will also lead to “the interruption of traffic at the Porte de Bourgogne for these three to four months” announces the director of Keolis Bordeaux Métropole.