French authorities investigate suspected sabotage in train derailment

PARIS – Investigators suspect that a train derailment in north-west France which injured 44 people, one gravely, was the result of sabotage, a police source told AFP on Sept 12.

A fragment of rail was found on the track, with the possibility of a malicious act being treated as the main line of inquiry as a result, the source said.

The train carrying 186 passengers was running between the Normandy cities of Rouen and Caen when it derailed at around 7.45pm on Sept 11 (1.45am, Sept 12 Singapore time) close to Renault’s factory in the town of Cleon.

The authorities activated a mass-casualty response plan, with 130 firefighters, five medical teams and 80 vehicles responding.

An AFP photographer saw a mass of railway staff working around the train on the morning of September.

Rouen prosecutor Sebastien Gallois said 44 people were injured, including an 18-year-old woman evacuated “in a critical condition”, while tests for drugs and alcohol on the train driver had come back negative.

“Suddenly there were a few jolts, and then after about three seconds it got stronger and stronger,” one of the passengers, Louis, 24, told ICI Normandie radio.

“I couldn’t stay in my seat any more,” he said. “The windows partially shattered, the stones from the track came into the carriage. It was really shocking. I’m still shaking.”

Those who escaped unharmed were taken to a room made available by Cleon’s mayor, according to the authorities.

SNCF Reseau, which controls the French rail network, told AFP that traffic on the line had been suspended and power to the tracks cut to allow emergency services to operate.

According to SNCF, the accident caused “major disruptions” to rail traffic between Rouen and Caen and between Caen and Le Havre in both directions.

A spokesperson for railway infrastructure manager SNCF Reseau said on the morning of Sept 12 that some services had resumed.

On the Rouen-Caen line, which usually sees 10 return services per day and six at weekends, a replacement bus service has been set up, passenger train operator SNCF Voyageurs said.

According to the spokesperson, the train will be lifted off the track only when the public prosecutor allows it, with investigations into the cause of the derailment still ongoing.

SNCF insisted that it would offer “full cooperation in complete transparency” to the inquiry. AFP