Derailment on the "train des Pignes"

[whole diary]

[stuving]

News coming in of a derailment near Saint-Benoit on the "train des Pignes" in the south of France - a metre-gauge local/tourist/heritage line from Nice to Digne.

First reports are that a train struck a rock on the line, and poor weather is hampering the emergency response. A carriage turned over resulting in two fatalities and seven injured.

News report with picture here. Evidently the carriage's departure from the track was much more dramatic that the early reports suggested.

[JayMac]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

French Alps: Rock derails Nice to Digne-les-Bains train

The train derailed as it was travelling through the southern French Alps (exclusive picture from Nice-Matin)

wo people were killed when a falling boulder derailed a tourist train in the southern French Alps, local officials and firefighters say.

At least nine people were injured.

The train was travelling from Nice to the town of Digne-les-Bains on a line which crosses gorges and viaducts at up to 1,000m (3,200ft) above sea level.

Images from the scene show the two-carriage train dangling from the tracks, the side of one carriage caved in by the rock.

One of the injured is said to be in a critical condition, while the others, including the driver, are reported to have sustained lighter injuries.

Map
"A rock the size of an automobile came off the mountainside and slammed into the first car of the train,'' Jean Ballester, mayor of nearby Annot, told BFM television.

There were a total of 34 people on board at the time of the accident, AFP news agency reports.

The agency adds that a total of 110 firefighters and 32 vehicles were deployed from around the region, as well as two helicopters.

They are said to have encountered difficulties in reaching the accident because of heavy snow and the isolated location.

The train travels on track that regularly receives snow and rockfalls, but regional transport official Jean-Yves Petit said that even in winter it is considered safe.

[stebbo]

Apparently they regularly get rock falls on that line - just not as big as this one. Sounds a tad dangerous to me.

[stuving]

Apparently they regularly get rock falls on that line - just not as big as this one. Sounds a tad dangerous to me.

Well, that's also true of the roads in the same area. There were two catch fences here, but 20 tons was too big for them to stop.

[stebbo]

But you might expect a French mountain road to be dangerous..........................

[stuving]

Only today was the damaged carriage removed - using two cranes on a specially-built access road. The other one was righted and brought out on the track. The weather's not been ideal - to say the least - but today's snow didn't stop them.

[stuving]

Service along the full length of the line was restarted today (see Nice Matin) with the train stopping for a short commemoration of the victims at the site.


It has taken four months and ^2.6M, most of which has gone into blasting 400 tons of dodgy-looking rocks out of the cliff face and building a 6-m high bank to protect the tracks (whether it is meant to stop big rocks or launch them over the top like a ski-jump it doesn't say).

The news item emphasises how vital this line is to the life and business of the area it serves.