List rail crashes in France

Here the chronological list of principal the rail crashes listed in France.

May 1842. Meudon: Fire of a Suburban train. At the time the doors were closed with key by the conductors, from where a terrible assessment: 55 dead. Consequently the doors had to remain open goes from there and this provision did not disappear that in 2003.

a French bishop pronounced a resounding homélie on this lesson that God gave to the arrogance men, and there saw an ire of the sky against the railroads. Alas for him, the same month, the Vatican precisely obtained a pontifical train on the initiative of the pope Gregoire XVI).
Among the victims was the admiral Dumont d' Urville and its family.

July 8th 1846. Fampoux: The train of the Paris-Lille line runs off the line while passing on a fill of the valley of the Scarpe, coaches fall into the marshes, assessment 14 dead.
September 5th 1881. Charenton-the-Bridge: the correction of a slow train by a rapid in station makes 26 dead and of many casualties.
October 22nd 1895. Station Montparnasse: Granville - Paris made up of twelve coaches and which transported 131 passengers approached the Montparnasse station. Two vans luggage and a mail van were coupled with the engine.

See also: Rail crash of the station Montparnasse

Years 1900

August 10th 1903. Paris: Set fire to in an oar of the Métro of Paris, due to a short-circuit: 83 dead, among the passengers of the following oar left this one, by smothering due to panic having followed the invasion of the station Crowns by smoke of the fire. Following this accident the stations of the subway will be built with at least two exits on each quay (it should be noted that the station Couronnes is still not equipped with it!).

Years 1910

August 1910. Villepreux: collision. 37 dead.
November 1913. Melun: collision enters an express train and a mail train, in consequence of a non-observance of indication: 39 dead.
December 1917. Saint-Michel-with-Maurienne: derailment of a train of soldiers who escaped with had died while returning from the war. The brakes of the time were still very rudimentary. The engine only was often equipped with brake; coaches “brake tightener” were built-in the train, operations by railwaymen on order of the driver (by whistles). The line of presenting a strong slope (3,5%) in the Modane direction - Chambéry, one second engine was necessary to slow down. The soldiers not wanting to wait, the driver was summoned to leave before the second engine is not harnessed. The missing engine plus the probable deficiency of certain “brake tighteners” (the doubt remains) had as consequences which the train could not control its speed, accelerated and finally ran off the line right before the station of Saint-Michel-with-Maurienne. No official results exist, but one speaks about 425 dead. It is about the accident of the most fatal train ever which has occurred in France.

Years 1920

October 1921. Paris: Fire in the tunnel of the Batignolles, located right before the Station Saint-Lazare. 20 dead. Thereafter, one made the decision to demolish this tunnel (1923). Only the last gallery is still in service nowadays.
August 1922. Laguian: a train of pilgrims with Lourdes patina in the coast then moves back. It strikes the following with the stop. 33 especially dead in the last car.

Years 1930

23 December 1933. Lagny - Pomponne: correction enters an express train and an extra train.

Because of a bad observation of signals by the mechanic of an express train bound for Strasbourg, this train struck to 120 km/h in middle of the night an extra train forwarding to Nancy the working classes to celebrate Christmas and which rolled to 60 km/h. The shock was terrible, the express train dislocating the old crammed cars out of wooden. There were 230 died.
This accident had many consequences on the exploitation of the railroads French: initially, one establishes an indication standardized in France (Verlant code), always into force nowadays. Then one speeded up the reform of the old cars out of wooden, which had been genuine traps at the time of the collision. Lastly, it was decided to make pass to all the agents intervening on the safety of circulations a test of sight (the mechanic of the express train was Daltonien).

Years 1940

June 1947. Arras: following a sabotage, an express train Paris Lille ran off the line not very front Arras. 16 dead.
February 1948. Thumeries: collision enters a goods train and a passenger train of the line Bridge-to-Marcq - Douai. 18 died and 80 wounded.
February 1949. Port-D' Workshop: collision. 42 dead.

Years 1950

June 1957. Boisleux-with-Mount: derailment. 11 dead.
July 1957. Bollène: derailment of the Nice - Paris. 20 dead.
September 1957. Nozières: derailment of Paris Nimes. 26 dead.
November 1957. Chantonnay: nose with nose enters a Autorail and a goods train. 29 dead.

Years 1960

June 1961. Vitry-le-François: derailment in station of Strasbourg - Paris, due at an excessive speed. 24 dead.
July 1962. Hedge mustard-on-Ouche: derailment of Paris-Marseilles. 39 dead.
October 5th 1962. Montbard: derailment of the TEE Cisalpin . 12 dead.
August 1965. Bridge-with Héry: nose with nose between two international trains. 12 dead.
October 1966. Cosne: derailment of the Rail-car Nevers - Montargis. 9 dead.
Fine 1963 Marseilles St Charles: The motor coach of Bordeaux-Marseilles strikes the ridge-plows and goes up on the quay, smashes the newsstand. Slightly injureds

Years 1970

March 1970. Oloron-Holy-Marie: derailment of a French goods train going Pau to Canfranc (Spain). This accident having involved the destruction of the bridge of Estanguet, located on the gave of Winder, this international railway course in the the Pyrenees will be abandoned with dimensions French: no the victims
June 1972. Vierzy: collapse of the vault of a tunnel on the two trains circulating at this time. The vibrations of the diesel engines of the rail-cars caused this collapse. Following this tragedy, another tunnel of the line Paris Laon, built according to the same standards, was put at single track: 108 dead.
August 1974. Fraud-of-Brittany: derailment: 10 dead.

Years 1980

July 1985. Saint-Pierre-of-Vauvray the: collision of a train Coral with a truck with a level crossing. The assessment of 10 died and more than 60 wounded people of which some very seriously.

the cars of the train were scattered in an incredible way (some with 90° of the way), because of the configuration of the train. It was about a reversible train, i.e. the engine pushed the train; this one continued to push whereas before train had already entered in collision.
It was then generalized a system of control of the engine which causes the emergency braking of the engine. The level crossing was, several years after the tragedy accident, made safe by the construction of a road tunnel under the railway.

August 1985. Flaujac: nose with nose on a single-track line of a train coral and a Rail-car rolling each one with nearly 120 km/h. 35 dead.

the rail-car was authorized to leave the preceding station by the department head whereas the coral had not passed yet there in opposite direction. Realizing of its error, and not having any other means (line without radio and signals), it was put in the car at the continuation of the rail-car. It could only discover the accident a few kilometres from there.
This accident caused a polemic, the railwaymen and the passengers criticizing the choices of the marked SNCF to prefer to invest in TGV, leaving the small lines without modernization. A policy of modernization was started consequently (installation of the radio, of semi-automatic signals).

August 1985. Nickle silver-on-Hollow: derailment of a train coral in station, because of an excessive speed, which took place with the passage of a mail train in the other direction. 43 dead.

These three accidents, which have occurred during summer 1985 caused a considerable emotion in the country and a serious crisis with the SNCF. Its president was constrained with the resignation.

December 1987. Issy-les-Moulineaux: nose with nose between two suburban trains, following a crossing of a signal of stop by one of the drivers. After investigation a defect of indication would be the probable cause of this accident. 1 dead.
June 27th 1988. Paris: Gare de Lyon: collision in the underground station enters a train to quay and another travelling to 60 km/h. 59 dead.

August 1988. Paris: collision. A Suburban train arrived a little too quickly on the stops of the station of the East. 1 dead. The mechanic was condemned to 15 month of suspended sentence.
September 1988. Voiron: collision with a Crossing level of a TGV and a truck. 2 dead.

Years 1990

October 1991. Melun: nose with nose enters a night train and a train of freight.

the driver of a goods train, for an unknown reason, crosses a closed signal and strikes in nez-à-nez the night train. The driver had observed a speed limit well and had reduced its speed from 90 to 60 km/h. It stabilizes it then, with the right of the table of execution of the limitation. Perhaps he forgets whereas it had also crossed a warning (yellow fire) and was to continue to slow down until the complete stop. It is at the speed of 60 km/h that it crosses the closed signal (square). The recording speed of the train, strongly damaged at the time of the shock, does not make it possible to know what occurred beyond the signal. The assessment is heavy: 16 dead.
This accident had as a consequence the installation of new medical controls for the mechanics and especially the generalization of KVB: it is about a control system of speed, device which would have detected the abnormal speed of the train of freight to the approach of the closed signal and would have started an emergency braking.

September 1992. Curis: correction of a train coral on a goods train. 1 dead.
January 1993. Saint-Leu-with Esserent in the Oise: derailment followed by a collision. A large metal part had been placed voluntarily by a 16 year old young person on the way. Unfortunately the convoy ran off the line in the passing on the plate and struck full whip an empty train circulating in the other direction. 4 dead. Following this accident, the SNCF decided to enclose the accesses of the railways in Île-de-France, which was not made on the line Creil - Persan-Beaumont where was held this accident that ten years later.
April 1994. Marseillan: derailment of a train coral following an excessive speed. No victims. The mechanic, victim of a suicide on her train one hour before and obviously still shocked, did not observe a fallback speed which had with work. Since this incident, at the time of a suicide, the mechanic must be raised immediately.
September 8th 1997. Port-Holy-Foy: collision with a level crossing between a Rail-car and a Tanker which ignited. 17 dead.

Years 2000

March 8th 2000. Yonne: 3 agents are killed by a TGV whereas they carried out work of maintenance on the way close to Pasilly.
June 2000. Chasse-sur-Rhône: derailment of the Vintimille-Calais train to the passage of a coupon of rail posed on the way by one unbalanced. 2 dead.
December 2001. Holy Lyon Clearly: correction of two goods trains, because of a defective signal, indicating the free track whereas the other convoy had just passed it. No victims, but a strong emotion in the railway community.
October 2003. Houses-Alfort: on the line D of the RER: a faintness having involved a delay of the trains, users decide to cross the ways to take a the RER coming on another quay; a user is run up against by a TGV (1 dead); this unfortunately banal accident involved supplementary measures in particular of indication of prohibition to cross the ways
November 2003. Nancy: set fire to in a car of the night train Paris - Munich. 12 dead.
January 27th 2003. Saint-Dalmas-of-Tightens: A head-on collision between an Italian train and a travelling French train has 72 km/h for the Italian train and 22 km/h for the French train makes two dead: the driver and the Italian conductor in addition to one about sixty wounded primarily in the Italian train. The accident is ascribable has a wrong movement on the level of the French signal box.
May 27th 2005. Francardo: A head-on collision between two oars of the FOR THE THIRD TIME Corsica fact 14 wounded.
February 25th 2006. Saint-Flour: A Car Coral of the line Paris - Béziers runs off the line, making 12 wounded.
October 11th 2006. Zoufftgen. Head-on collision, at the Luxembourg border of Zoufftgen in the Moselle between and a passenger train goods train on the line Thionville-Luxembourg, 6 died and 1 seriously injured.

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