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Title: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: stuving on August 21, 2015, 20:05:40 SNCF have developed their own version of Sod's law, which is that something always goes wrong on a summer holiday weekend. The weekends in July and August are when the long-distance network is busiest. This year's speciality is fires, as on this Marseille-Paris TGV (train 2916) that burst into flames this afternoon.
Reported (not in English) (http://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/un-tgv-marseille-paris-en-feu-pres-de-valence-des-retards-a-prevoir-21-08-2015-5025677.php) with this picture: (http://s3.lprs1.fr/images/2015/08/21/5025677_tgv.png) The last time was on August 2nd (a Sunday) and was nominally an AVE, but still an Alstom-built TGV, run jointly by RENFE and SNCF. This was at Lunel, near Montpellier, on the (scenic) route from Pars to Madrid. (http://images.midilibre.fr/images/2015/08/02/le-feu-est-maitrise-mais-il-n-est-pas-eteint-car-nous_1539535_667x333.jpg?v=1) As you can see that one was on 1500V DC, though as the second one was 25 kV that can't be a big factor. That was on the biggest chass^-crois^ weekend, when the juillettistes going home fight their way past the ao^tiens going to replace them on the beaches. The same day, there was a TGV that hit a heavy farm tractor near Rennes. The tractor crashed through from a field and rolled down into a cutting. Followed by much head-scratching about what you could practically do to prevent that. Then there was that catenary support hit by a car - 17th July, a Friday (reported in this forum) (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=15877.msg179388#msg179388). I can vaguely remember at least on other spoiled weekend too. Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: Adelante_CCT on August 21, 2015, 22:01:07 And to add to the woes in France:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11817679/France-high-speed-train-shooting-what-we-know-so-far.html Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: stuving on August 23, 2015, 20:39:05 And here's another thing ...
Today Montpellier was struck by flash flooding, for the third time in a year (it happened twice in ten days last September). A TGV was derailed by a landslip, which blocked the line from N^mes (and reportedly between Narbonne to Toulouse as well). This is not an LGV - there is a plan to build one which should be starting about now - but it is the main line from the Rhone valley towards Toulouse and Spain, and the main TGV route to Spain. Reportedly (http://www.franceinfo.fr/vie-quotidienne/transports/article/intemperies-le-trafic-sncf-interrompu-dans-la-region-de-montpellier-719461) the passengers were evacuated on another train, as they were stuck in a flooded cutting. Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: Red Squirrel on August 23, 2015, 21:29:35 Had me confused for a moment - until I remembered there's another Montpelier somewhere...
Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: plymothian on August 23, 2015, 21:35:46 "The UK railway is shit, they never have these problems abroad..."
Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: stuving on August 24, 2015, 12:23:30 Today Montpellier was struck by flash flooding, for the third time in a year (it happened twice in ten days last September). A TGV was derailed by a landslip, which blocked the line from N^mes (and reportedly between Narbonne to Toulouse as well). This is not an LGV - there is a plan to build one which should be starting about now - but it is the main line from the Rhone valley towards Toulouse and Spain, and the main TGV route to Spain. I am impressed that SNCF had the line open initially with one track by 07:00 today, promising full operation later today, since the blockage was at 15:00 yesterday. Incidentally, the storm struck Montpellier at 14:00 - so the rise of water to flood levels was fast. M^o France are reporting a new record rainfall rate of 110 mm/hr. Now that really is heavy rain. Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: stuving on July 27, 2018, 19:25:17 This year, it's a holiday weekend, and it's back to fires again. OK, strictly speaking next weekend is the one with the big bad traffic jams, but this one is also rather too warm for spending hours in stations or packed trains. And the fire was in a big grid transformer on the Paris ring, not a railway one, but still very effective at closing the gare de Paris Montparnasse (again).
From Channel News Asia (!) (https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/fire-blocks-major-paris-station-at-height-of-holiday-exodus-10569284) Quote Fire blocks major Paris station at height of holiday exodus (https://www.channelnewsasia.com/image/10569310/16x9/670/377/331c34b439af5eaec978b167b84670b7/fW/paris-fire-1.jpg) Firefighters try to extinguish a fire of an electric transformer in Issy-les-Moulineaux, west of Paris, on Jul 27, 2018. (Photo: AFP /Stephane Delfour) PARIS: A major fire in the Paris suburbs paralysed traffic in and out of the city's Montparnasse train station on Friday (Jul 27), just as thousands of French and foreign travellers head on their holidays this weekend. The fire at an electrical centre run by the national transport network in Issy-les-Moulineaux, southwest of Paris, sent a massive plume of smoke rising into the skies. The blaze, just next door to Microsoft's main French offices, prompted an evacuation of 2,500 people and caused a power cut to some 16,000 homes in the Paris suburbs, authorities said. The fire shut down traffic just before noon at Montparnasse, the main station connecting Paris to west and southwest France, with rail operator SNCF warning of heavy disruption for the rest of the day. ... Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: Red Squirrel on July 28, 2018, 10:37:52 Quote The blaze, just next door to Microsoft's main French offices, prompted an evacuation of 2,500 people and caused a power cut to some 16,000 homes in the Paris suburbs, authorities said. ... They should have tried switching it of and then switching it back on again... Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: stuving on July 28, 2018, 20:26:35 Quote The blaze, just next door to Microsoft's main French offices, prompted an evacuation of 2,500 people and caused a power cut to some 16,000 homes in the Paris suburbs, authorities said. ... They should have tried switching it of and then switching it back on again... In SNCF's case, they seem to have had enough of getting the blame for whatever goes wrong. Since this time it's clearly RTE's fault - it was their transformer fire, and their substation and cables in a tunnel that were destroyed - so they are talking aloud about claiming millions in compensation. The story is that this was a 225/63 kV substation, and as well as one transformer going up (presumably of a pair), it took with it a load of switchgear and thirty 63 kV cables leading out to its loads. It is well over 2 km to the nearest point on the Montparnasse line, and may be a lot further to wherever the feed is. RTE say the best they can do is to run temporary cables around the burnt-out section, at the earliest by Thursday. In the mean time, SNCF do obviously have a back-up feed, but only at half power. Worse, they have no non-traction power to their local depot for Montparnasse, so can't prepare trains there. So from tomorrow they are limited to around half the number of trains they would run (on a very busy holiday weekend). As usual there are politicos and journos complaining that they never imagined their electricity supply might actually fail and not come back on in a few minutes. I did hear that this kind of failure of a non-duplicated bit of the grid last happened thirty years ago - which sounds plausible. 55,000 domestic users also lost supply, and after 24 hours 7,000 were still off but due to be reconnected by the second evening. And ... yesterday evening Gare de l'Est lost traction power for an hour due to a train fault. And Gare du Nord suffered similarly due to lightning, there being a lot of that plus pretty serious storms over Paris. That train's fault might well have been lightning-induced, I think, but the fire was too early for that to be likely. Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: stuving on August 25, 2018, 12:48:04 Here we go again, on the last big holiday-travel weekend this summer ... but this time not in Paris. Yesterday the second unit of a TGV derailed coming into Marseille Saint-Charles. Several tracks in the throat are still blocked, and will be into tomorrow (Sunday), but nine platforms out of 16 are still accessible. (English story from RFI. (http://en.rfi.fr/20180825-rail-traffic-disrupted-after-train-derailed-marseille/))
Priority to use that capacity is being given to TGVs, it being such a busy time for going home. It's a "through terminus" like Swansea, and can be by-passed, and is by some trains. TERs can terminate at one of the other city stations, though services have been reduced. Recovery will not start until tonight, as they are still bringing in heavy kit, looking, and no doubt scratching heads. The last seven carriages plus power car need re-railing - evidently the bogies were given a free choice of track and no consensus emerged (rather like that HST at Laira). Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: IndustryInsider on August 25, 2018, 13:00:28 Thanks for continuing ‘coverage’ of such events in France, Stuving. Without you, unless we did the research ourselves, we might be led into thinking such events only ever occur in the UK.
Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: stuving on August 25, 2018, 13:45:01 Thanks for continuing ‘coverage’ of such events in France, Stuving. Without you, unless we did the research ourselves, we might be led into thinking such events only ever occur in the UK. Thank you for that. As an aside, while quickly visiting a point (a long way) vertically above Marseille for that post, I noticed that the roundhouse next to MSC station had, since last year, lost its track and turntable and the tiles off its roof. So, is it being demolished? Looking this up (having paused only to look up he French for roundhouse) it turns out it's not being entirely demolished. That was proposed by SNCF in 2014, but refused by the city at planning. The building is now being restored, and will be used for garaging and light maintenance of smaller rolling stock (TERs). How that fits into a round building I can't imagine, but it sounds like it will survive only as a bit of a large new building. The turntable has been scrapped - but then big ones are very hard to move. Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: stuving on August 28, 2018, 10:16:24 SNCF finished removing the derailed train during the night of Sunday/Monday. There are several reasons why it took well over two days, despite being urgent, not just that it involved eight vehicles and happened on a platform line so access was largely from one side. It was a duplex (double-deck) train, so big and top-heavy, and the shared bogies present a more difficult lifting job, and also prevent each carriage being removed once rerailed to give access to the end of the next.
Repairing the track is predicted to finish by Friday, and until then disruption will continue. TGVs are all running, though the ones to Nice/Toulon are using Marseille Blancarde instead of Saint-Charles. TERs are significantly reduced, to a peak-only service in some cases, though part of that is due to closures for engineering work (common in August). So while the shared bogie deign is good for safety, making it almost impossible for carriages to overturn, it does have its drawbacks. Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: stuving on February 18, 2019, 20:25:43 Today's not quite a peak travel holiday - that was last Saturday and next too (for winter sports) - but there was a demonstration from SNCF of what happens when an overhead wire goes ping on your busiest high-speed line (Paris-Lyon). The answer, of course, is that having cancelled as many trains as possible, the rest (enough for the number of passengers) have to squeeze onto the surrounding "classic" network. This is 1500V DC territory, but being on half power isn't likely to matter given the lower line speeds anyway. Typical delays on these trains, between Paris and all points south of Lyon, have been 3-4 hours.
Repair work started at 13:00, but rather than keep both tracks closed for a full repair they chose to reopen the intact one for alternating one-way use and will rewire the other one tonight. Obviously the longer-distance services thin out from late afternoon, helping with recovery, but arrivals in Paris are still very delayed. SNCF are warning of further disruption tomorrow, presumably due to out-of-place stock and out-of-hours staff. I guess much the same would happen anywhere. Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: stuving on June 29, 2019, 20:22:18 The canicules are out early this year, so ... there are delays due to precautionary measures for hot rails and the like. SNCF also have a problem with droopy catenaries, which is a bit odd - I've not heard of it as a significant issue here. It arises with gravity tensioners, where the weight hits the ground and tension is lost. there has been a programme of modifications; presumably one more turn of wire round the pulleys and a bigger weight. But obviously there are still some places to do.
So, about Thursday night. An intercités train Paris-Bercy to Clermont-Ferrand was delayed for more than two hours by an attempted suicide, and finally set off at around 9 pm. At 22:00, near Montargis, it stopped for want of juice, and obviously the chillers went off. Initial reports from passengers said they were left alone with no food, water, or other help for hours; when rescued by another train it stopped everywhere and then finally arrived the next morning 11 hours late. Reports of the trouble said the wire broke and that it melted, and it wasn't clear if the heat was a factor. The rescue train was delayed because the other track was closed for works, and had to be de-possessed. SNCF's story was different, saying that water and food were supplied by the local rescue services and the stranded were picked up as soon as possible. Today, as part of an apology, they add that driver error at a point of voltage change, combined with slack wires, was the cause. I'm not sure that's a whole lot clearer. They also say they have stopped selling TGV and Intercités tickets to allow for train cancellations. There is a voltage boundary near Conflans-sur-Loing, a few km south of Montargis. Oddly, it's from 1500V DC to 25 kV AC (which is newer OLE) when going south. Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: IndustryInsider on June 29, 2019, 22:58:29 Thanks, Stuving. As usual we would probably not of heard about this latest incident on the foreign railway network had you not alerted us to it.
Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: stuving on July 02, 2019, 13:12:40 Last night there was even an overnight TGV: Paris to Grenoble, 11 hours late. It spent the night at Lyon-Saint-Exupéry (so it does have a use!), and even then couldn't use the direct route. While that's due to reopen today, the Chambéry-Grenoble line (and other minor ones) will take several days to clear.
All due to trees felled by last night's storm, which was apparently quite spectacular - there was even a near-shipwreck on Lake Annecy. So most people have been have been understanding of SNCF's problems, with the obvious exception of the passengers involved. Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: stuving on July 03, 2019, 15:35:10 And it's getting worse ... the main line from Lyon to Turin, via the Fréjus tunnel, has been closed for "several weeks" by a mud slide (near les Sordieres). Does it really look such a huge heap as that? It wasn't even big enough to cross the railway and invade the autoroute right next to it. This is originally an SNCF image:
(https://cdn-s-www.ledauphine.com/images/0E92C6CC-C9F2-41F5-A80A-AAE6CAE0B550/LDL_v1_03/capture-d-ecran-1562102436.jpg) Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: eightonedee on July 03, 2019, 15:54:14 Quote Does it really look such a huge heap as that? ....but it might be because of what's still about to slide down the hill/mountainside above the track that they will need to stabilise first! Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: stuving on July 03, 2019, 19:48:23 Quote Does it really look such a huge heap as that? ....but it might be because of what's still about to slide down the hill/mountainside above the track that they will need to stabilise first! I think you're right - having just seen some overhead footage, there's a fence further up the slope that's holding back a lot more of that ... stuff ... so what's on the track is just the overflow. And it has now oozed onto the near carriageway of the road (A43). And there's more rain forecast for the Alps; not on the same scale but it only needs to top up the lubrication. This of course is the main rail link between France and Italy: three TGVs, a limited TER service, but a lot of freight (per day each way). Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: stuving on July 04, 2019, 15:48:50 This of course is the main rail link between France and Italy: three TGVs, a limited TER service, but a lot of freight (per day each way). Coincidentally, one of the other France-Italy lines was in the news today: Nice-Tende. French trains used to run onward to Turin but no longer do, but Italian ones still run from Ventimiglia into France to join the line and then through to Turin. I imagine displaced TGVs will use the coast line, which might also take goods traffic, though it involves flogging along the full length of the Riviera. But the gradients, loops, and wiggles of the line to Tende (Train des Merveilles) would put off any heavy train. The trouble with the line is the usual one - most of the year it has only a handful of passengers. Fares only cover about 7% of costs, and both the region and their audit body think the subsidy has to be reduced. Currently it's the usual SNCF approach of no closures, but more trains will be buses. That's all happening across France, but this is PACA* - and the region has been having a long bout of arm-wrestling with SNCF over the cost and performance of their services. They threatened an open competition, but in the end found a legal process that let them requisition SNCF in some way rather than negotiating a contract. I've no idea how that works, but after three years they have a new agreement. Politically PACA is a mixture of extremes - left-wing strongholds in Marseille and Toulon, but right (very in parts) elsewhere. Its transport policy is a mix too, and used to include 1€ bus tickets across the region (but only if you asked for one). In passing, I note that Nice airport is to be multimodalised, with on-site buses (which used to stop on the road outside), trams, and trains at a station moved from St Augustin. *Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: stuving on July 08, 2019, 20:16:24 Well, it missed the peak off-to-holiday traffic, but it still happened. A two-hour loss of power outside Bordeaux-St-Jean, stopping all trains in and out. One train was within walking distance along the track, as a lot of the passengers confirmed, though there were 15 TGVs stopped in all. However, I suspect most of those still had power, just nowhere to go. The reason was a bit odd: some issue on the pantograph of a train in the depot led to the power locally being switched off. I have no information as to why it was off for so long over all the running lines.
Meanwhile... (actually last Thursday) 30 km away at Libourne, the press thought they'd found a juicy little story: a driver had hit his limit of hours and abandoned his goods train in the station - and it was carrying armoured vehicles for the Bastille Day parade which needed to be guarded at all times! More than that, it was operated by a private company, which is a new idea in France. But later on SNCF sheepishly admitted it was theirs, but claimed the line was OK to use as a goods loop, and the train arrived by the promised time even if it took four hours to get another driver there. I guess Frét SNCF now have to apply to SNCF Réseau for one-off paths in the same way as other operators. Incidentally, on Frét SCNF's landing page it says: Quote 24/7 tracking Our sales teams are ready to help you meet your challenges, both locally and internationally. We’re present throughout France, and our offices are open 24/7, so we can track your shipments in real time. Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: Worcester_Passenger on July 20, 2019, 14:02:21 I see from https://www.sncf.com/en/booking-itinerary/traffic-info/gl (https://www.sncf.com/en/booking-itinerary/traffic-info/gl) that SNCF hope to restore the through TGV services to Italy via Modane gradually from July 23 onwards.
Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: stuving on August 31, 2020, 12:17:24 Well, this year they were a few days late, but it's traditional, so it has to happen (like the Tour de France). From The Local (https://www.thelocal.fr/20200831/french-rail-network-not-back-to-normal-until-tuesday-at-earliest-after-power-outage-strands-thousands):
Quote French rail network disrupted until 'Tuesday at earliest' after power outage strands thousands 31 August 2020 09:24 CEST+02:00 French rail operator SNCF says that trains will not be back to normal until Tuesday morning at the earliest after a power failure saw thousands of passengers having to spend the night on stranded trains. The power failure in south west France affected thousands of passengers who were travelling back to Paris and the north of the country ready to go back to work on Monday. The power failure happened between Dax and Bordeaux on Sunday afternoon, leaving several trains from Dax, Biarritz and Hendaye stuck on the lines unable to move. Many passengers were stranded for up to 20 hours and some were forced to sleep on trains after local hotels ran out of space. In all around 2,500 passengers were affected, said SNCF. The company added that the problem is not yet resolved and has also had major knock-on effects on the rail network, saying that they do not expect a return to normal until Tuesday morning at the earliest. There is talk of 60 km of OLE needing to be repaired. Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: Hal on August 31, 2020, 15:23:51 Le Monde quotes the SNCF as saying passengers affected by this breakdown will receive "compensation amounting to 300%" (of their ticket price presumably). SNCF will also cover consequential costs such as hotels and taxis.
Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: stuving on August 31, 2020, 20:16:37 There is talk of 60 km of OLE needing to be repaired. SNCF are saying (though this is subject to detailed investigation) that a catenary fault at Orthez damaged a pantograph, which in turn went on to damage 60 km of catenary (mainly at track switches). For that, it must have still been collecting current OK. After stopping at Morcenx, the train did restart and got 50 km further to Ychoux, before its complete failure. Apparently, two following trains also suffered some of this mutual damage effect. Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: Electric train on September 01, 2020, 07:10:33 There is talk of 60 km of OLE needing to be repaired. SNCF are saying (though this is subject to detailed investigation) that a catenary fault at Orthez damaged a pantograph, which in turn went on to damage 60 km of catenary (mainly at track switches). For that, it must have still been collecting current OK. After stopping at Morcenx, the train did restart and got 50 km further to Ychoux, before its complete failure. Apparently, two following trains also suffered some of this mutual damage effect. TGV's have 2 Pans wonder if it was the leading or trailing Pan that was damaged? At the speeds of TGV's the dynamic forces at the pantograph it does not take much to cause damage to the OLE and over a large area. Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: JontyMort on September 01, 2020, 21:24:43 There is talk of 60 km of OLE needing to be repaired. SNCF are saying (though this is subject to detailed investigation) that a catenary fault at Orthez damaged a pantograph, which in turn went on to damage 60 km of catenary (mainly at track switches). For that, it must have still been collecting current OK. After stopping at Morcenx, the train did restart and got 50 km further to Ychoux, before its complete failure. Apparently, two following trains also suffered some of this mutual damage effect. TGV's have 2 Pans wonder if it was the leading or trailing Pan that was damaged? At the speeds of TGV's the dynamic forces at the pantograph it does not take much to cause damage to the OLE and over a large area. Though, of course, this wasn’t on a high-speed line, so the fact that it was a TGV may not be relevant. Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: stuving on September 01, 2020, 23:39:15 There is talk of 60 km of OLE needing to be repaired. SNCF are saying (though this is subject to detailed investigation) that a catenary fault at Orthez damaged a pantograph, which in turn went on to damage 60 km of catenary (mainly at track switches). For that, it must have still been collecting current OK. After stopping at Morcenx, the train did restart and got 50 km further to Ychoux, before its complete failure. Apparently, two following trains also suffered some of this mutual damage effect. TGV's have 2 Pans wonder if it was the leading or trailing Pan that was damaged? At the speeds of TGV's the dynamic forces at the pantograph it does not take much to cause damage to the OLE and over a large area. Though, of course, this wasn’t on a high-speed line, so the fact that it was a TGV may not be relevant. True - and not only that; this is DC territory so it's not even 25kV. AFAIK TGVs only raise one pan under 25kV, though I vaguely recall they prefer the rear one when running single. Of course TGVs often run in pairs, and will be subject to rules about inter-pan spacing varying with speed (which I failed to find on line). It's not clear whether this train was one or two units. On 1500V DC each unit would raise both pans - the power link along the roof only being available at 25kV. Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: stuving on September 03, 2020, 12:57:10 Just a small clarification, based on a more through report of Monday's press conference (https://www.sudouest.fr/2020/08/31/incident-a-la-sncf-enquete-en-cours-sur-l-origine-de-la-panne-electrique-7791686-2780.php):
TGV 8538 did contain two units, should have left Hendaye at 11:46 and was due into Paris at 16:21. The passengers were moved to another train during the night (presumably at Ychoux), which left Bordeaux (where it does not normally call) for Paris at 10:00, and would have arrived ca. 12:10. It does not pass through Orthez, so why did SNCF infra mention OLE damage there? They were actually saying they did not know which train first damaged the OLE - maybe 8538, maybe an earlier one, which then led to further trains sufferinge damage. Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: stuving on July 30, 2022, 12:29:36 This year SNCF say they are back to "normal", and even more busy than that. So, as it's chassé-croisé weekend, what's broken down? A Thalys, this time. From The Brussels Times (https://www.brusselstimes.com/264459/another-thalys-train-breakdown-traps-passengers-overnight):
Quote Another Thalys train breakdown traps passengers overnight * meaning the power car failed, I presumeSaturday, 30 July 2022 By Dylan Carter Despite a 10% reduction in capacity following the breakdown of two Thalys trains in a week during the recent July heatwave, passengers have once again found themselves stuck on high-speed trains returning from France. Following a collision with an animal on the tracks near Tournai, which caused a technical issue with the train’s engine, around 800 people were allowed to sleep overnight on nearby train carriages provided by Thalys. During the evening, the stricken train was evacuated and the passengers were given the choice of walking to a hotel, paying for a taxi to Brussels, or staying in makeshift accommodation provided by the company. According to Belgian broadcaster RTBF, travellers who opted to receive hotel vouchers were disappointed to find that the hotel had no more rooms available, and were forced to make their own way to the Gare du Midi in Brussels. The broken-down train is scheduled to depart again sometime this morning. Passengers stuck in the train’s carriages were cut off from electricity and air conditioning due to damage to the train’s engine*. According to a spokesperson for the train operator, water was provided to the stranded travellers and the doors of the train were opened. The breakdown has caused a whole chain of delays across the Thalys network, however the operator assures that passengers will be compensated for their time and any inconvenience caused. Related News Thalys is bracing for a summer of disruptions to its planned services. Following the breakdown of the two trains in July, which Thalys initially labelled a “coincidence”, the train operator will now conduct additional safety checks on some of its trains, leading to a series of cancellations. “Due to operating incidents that occurred at the end of July, two trains had to undergo in-depth repairs and checks in our two maintenance workshops in Paris in Brussels,” Thalys explained on its website. “As a result, Thalys will not be able to use its entire fleet for the next few weeks.” Customers are able to postpone their trip free of charge or receive a refund for the cancelled journeys up to one year after the original booking. So, enormously disruptive animals there too. And then there's those two trains breaking down and losing cooling in a heatwave that makes that an instant emergency. And yes, there was a fire as well, perhaps inevitably this year. It closed the LGV Lyon-Marseille for a few hours, and is reported to have started from an aire de repos on the A7 near Valence. Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: stuving on July 31, 2022, 20:28:02 And again today - the relatively unusual event of a person struck by a TGV on a high-speed line (Paris-Bordeaux). Described as 1 km north of Gare de Vendome Villiers sur Loir, which is not the one in Vendôme (it's 4 km away). The train stopped 1 km past the station, with 2-3 hour delays once the line reopened. I guess the point about it being today is there are more trains and passengers than usual.
Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: stuving on January 24, 2023, 15:42:14 Today services from the Gare Paris Est were hit for an unusual reason - sabotage. Overnight someone opened some cable ducts and cabinets, poured petrol on the cables, and lit it. The result was the destruction (as working cables) of 600 cables in 48 conduit channels. This was near a major signalling centre at Vaires-sur-Marne, controlling the line out of Paris Est, so all services are cancelled, except Transilien via Émerainville and a few TGVs switched to Paris Nord. Maybe tomorrow, maybe not is the current estimate for resumption.
The news media (and SNCF and the government) have studiously avoided so far suggesting it might be linked to the current round of protest/agitation about pensions. But that must be a possibility, bearing in mind that it might not even be the fringe of the political groups, more the hangers-on who are always looking to have a bit of a riot or smash things. There was another railway news item today that has got pushed to the side, as if there is a quota for railway news.That was a TER on the line up the valley to Moutiers that hit, and cut in half, a coach at a level crossing (at Cevins). The bus was empty, and its driver the only serious casualty, but the train was ripped open and a few passengers were injured. The coach driver may be able to explain why he was apparently stuck on the crossing. Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: stuving on January 24, 2023, 19:44:26 Maybe sabotage isn't as rare as I thought. There were two similar events in 2021: in June near Valence and in October in four places at once, all on LGVs. I don't think any culprit has ever been identified.
And one correction to the earlier report: it's now clear it was 48 cables, so must be 600 wires or circuits, that were involved. So repair of most of that overnight and during tomorrow is plausible. Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: stuving on January 26, 2023, 12:25:47 SNCF did, indeed, get around half their services running on most lines from yesterday morning, and most of the rest by the afternoon. That looks impressive, since those trains were running while a lot of the wires were being worked on.
Assuming these installations are reasonably modern, wire wires can't be going very far - anything beyond the (very large) track network at Vaires would go by fibre, or at least trunk interconnection. So presumably it's a matter of how many tracks through Vaires can be got working. That still implies a lot of flexibility, to run through an area with half its signalling being worked on. One odd point in the reporting is that one line affected was that to La Ferté-Milon, and that's the last non-electrified line in the Ile-de-France. The wording suggests that was a reason it was running, so I guess some (at least) of the cables controlled the OLE power. Maybe that makes it easier. Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: stuving on June 10, 2023, 12:35:26 It's holiday season already, isn't it, even if not yet the peak months of July and August. So guess what happens. Yesterday there was an interruption to services out of Gare Montparnasse (local as well as main line). Its cause is a bit mysterious, since there are reports of explosions at the site (Saint-Arnoult), but SNCF say a bird hit a train and then the caténaire. That train was not much delayed, they say, but services were stopped for at least a couple of hours and delayed for most of the evening.
There were also issues at gare du Nord: a train/supply failure in the station throat yesterday, and a broken caténaire on Thursday. So, not too serious as these things go - I guess they are just limbering up for high summer! Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: stuving on July 29, 2023, 19:40:36 You may have worked out this is chassé-croisé weekend, so there must have been a massive disruption of the trains. This year it was not (or not yet!) due to the heat itself, but the violent storms that the heat has set off. A lightning strike near Paris took out the signals on the LGV from Paris-Montparnasse (again!) yesterday afternoon, and while it was declared fixed by 19:30 there was by then a big backlog.
SNCF say that no trains were cancelled as a result, but they were leaving an hour or two late and where staff ran out of hours some were far later than that arriving. Still, not so bad for one of these panne géante things. And if your trip is the start of a three or four week holiday, a few hours delay will soon be forgotten. Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: stuving on September 25, 2023, 14:11:16 If that thunderstorm didn't count, then this is this year's pagaille à la gare Montparnasse - and it's a bit late for the holiday season, or even its heatwave extension. So yes, once again it was the line out of Paris Montparnasse that was affected, with no electricity for all of Sunday afternoon. A break in a cable at the entrance of a tunnel at Massy was blamed, though it's not clear what sort of cable or tunnel was meant.
Massy is a kind of Old Oak Common about 12 kn from Montparnasse, and 10 km further down the line (Marcoussis) there was a train stuck in a tunnel for five hours. For some reason this was not only evacuated (on foot) but a rescue train was needed for the passengers. That may be a consequent or separate train failure, but in any case it was a mess inside due to five hours enforced occupation by the passengers (who were somewhere else by then). Services recovered during Sunday night, though some were very late arriving. Monday morning services were predicted to be all OK, but in fact significant delays have been reported. This sort of thing has now happened so often that "SNAFU" describes it exactly. Do the French use a literal translation of that? No, apparently it's still Snafu. Title: Re: If it's an August weekend, there must be a TGV on fire ... Post by: stuving on January 20, 2024, 19:45:06 And if it's a freezing cold January evening? An Intercités (so locomotive-hauled) train left Paris-Bercy for Clermont-Ferrand at 18:57 last night, due to arrive 22:31. But the loco broke down and its back-up had to come from Paris. So it was stuck with 700 passengers and no power - no heat or light - until the local fire & rescue and Red Cross turned up with emergency supplies of survival blankets and food.
Which isn't good, obviously. But why it was rated as a life-threatening incident is less clear. Help arrived after 2.5 hours, and the internal temperature never got below about 10o - so were there really passenger without seasonable outer clothing? The rescue dragged the train back to a station (Montargis) before swapping locos, which took time, so they arrived at 6:20. I assume these old Corail carriages at least have toilets that work without electricity! From SNCF's viewpoint, they will shortly get some new trains for these services (TGVs adapted to not be TGVs). The current materiel is thus on a make do and mend programme until withdrawal, and of course failures get more frequent. This page is printed from the "Coffee Shop" forum at http://gwr.passenger.chat which is provided by a customer of Great Western Railway. Views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that content provided contravenes our posting rules ( see http://railcustomer.info/1761 ). The forum is hosted by Well House Consultants - http://www.wellho.net |