Another accident at a French level crossing involving a "convoi exceptionnel"

[whole diary]

[stuving]

From TheLocal.fr

Eight injured as train hits lorry near Paris
Published: 21 Apr 2015 11:37 GMT+02:00
Updated: 21 Apr 2015 11:37 GMT+02:00

UPDATED: A passenger train hit a lorry at a level crossing in the town of Nangis to the south-east of Paris on Tuesday morning, leaving seven people injured, including one seriously.

The incident occurred near the train station at Nangis, south east of the capital (see map below), at around 8.45am on Tuesday.

The train, which was carrying 350 passengers from Belfort to Paris, crashed into a lorry that had stopped for unknown reasons at a level crossing near the station.

The impact was so severe that five carriages of the train were derailed.

Firefighters, police, and ambulances were sent to the scene, where seven people were injured - one seriously, said train operator SNCF^▸ (Societe Nationale des Chemins de fer Francais - French National Railways) in a statement.

Passengers took to social media to share images images from the crash, which show the train's derailment and debris on a nearby platform.

SNCF said that an investigation had been launched to determine exactly what went wrong.

Collisions with HGVs in general, and convois exceptionnels in particular, do seem to be a large proportion of level crossing accidents in France. From other reports this lorry was a convoi exceptionnel, and it was apparently not permitted on this road.

In this case the train was loco-hauled, so perhaps it came out better than a TER (DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit)) would have done. Even so, five carriages were derailed, but the fact that none fell on its side probably accounts for no-one being killed.

[stuving]

This French report from La Republique Seine-et-Marne Give far higher figures of 37 injured,three seriously (including the train driver). I'm not sure which is right (latest revised) version. It also has a picture; AFAICS^▸ (As Far As I Can See) the train split the lorry from its trailer and spun both parts round.

Seine-et-Marne - 37 bless^s dont 3 dans un ^tat s^rieux apr^s la collision entre un train et un poids lourd
Un train de voyageurs a percut^ un poids lourd, ce mardi vers 8h45, ^ hauteur du passage en gare de Nangis. Le bilan fait ^tat de 37 bless^s dont trois dans un ^tat s^rieux.

21/04/2015 ^ 13:26 par admin

L'accident s'est produit ce mardi matin ^ hauteur du passage ^ niveau de Nangis.Trente-quatre personnes ont ^ l^rement bless^es et deux autres plus gravement, dont le conducteur de la locomotive.

Un bilan provisoire important. Un accident entre un train et un poids lourd s^est produit ce mardi 21 avril vers 8 h 40 ^ hauteur du passage ^ niveau de la gare de Nangis. D^apr^s la gendarmerie, 37 personnes ont ^  bless^es dont trois sont dans un ^tat s^rieux. L^une d^elles a ^ h^liport^e vers la Piti^-Salp^tri^re et les deux autres conduites vers l^pital de Provins. Leurs pronostics vitaux ne sont toutefois pas engag^s.

Les autres personnes, plus l^rement touch^es sont soign^es sur place. Un important dispositif de secours est actuellement mobilis^ dont un h^licopt^re de la s^curit^ civile.

Le choc s^est produit apr^s que le convoi exceptionnel qui transportait des engins agricoles s^est retrouv^ bloqu^ hauteur du passage ^ niveau. Une enqu^te de gendarmerie a ^ ouverte pour comprendre les circonstances de cet accident. D^apr^s les premi^res constations, il pourrait s^agit d^une panne. Le conducteur aurait tent^ de pr^venir les agents SNCF^▸ (Societe Nationale des Chemins de fer Francais - French National Railways) mais le train ^tait d^ engag^. Il s^agit d^un Intercit^ qui faisait la liaisons entre Belfort (90) et Paris. Le train a percut^ la remorque, ce qui a entra^ le d^raillement de sept wagons.

[stuving]

They are still at it - after a bit of a lull. On Monday evening, a TER from Epinal to Belfort struck a convoi exceptionnel transportant un mât d’éolienne near Le Clerjus. A dozen minor injuries among the passengers; nothing worse than a broken ankle.

I think that rather lucky result was because, while the road is at nearly 45^o, the low loader was pushed at one end and straightened up. It also meshed with the train, which wasn't pushed onto its side, but just stopped very quickly.

Very few pictures; the best is from Vosges Matin (credit DR):


As to what this mast of a wind turbine really was, I've seen a prefabricated section on the road. Whether it could be a whole mast - presumably 80-100 m and at least as many tonnes - I'm not sure. The carrier is LASO, the big Portuguese haulier, which has been expanding across Europe recently (including opening in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) recently). You'd think they would be reasonably clued up about the very variable rules on his kind of transport across Europe, but even so ...

Crossing 51 is not really close to Le Clerjus (or indeed anywhere); it's just the commune. The closest station is at a hamlet with the oh-so-French name of Bains-les-Bains.