A serious train accident occurred in the early hours of today, April 7, in northern France, where a TGV (“Train à Grande Vitesse”) high-speed train hit the trailer of a vehicle carrying military equipment along the line between Béthune and Lens. According to reports from Le Figarothe impact, which occurred around 07:00 in the morning, caused the death of one person, the train driver, and injured 27 others, of which 2 were in serious conditions.
There were 243 passengers on board the convoy, according to the latest updated information released by Le Monde. Meanwhile, SNCF, the French national railway company, has interrupted train traffic between Béthune and Lens until at least late in the evening.
The reaction of the institutions was immediate: the French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot intervened on the merits of the accident and, through his profile on The minister then concluded: «I will go with the president and CEO of SNCF, Jean Castex».
The updated toll of the train accident: one dead and 27 injured
According to initial reconstructions, around 07:00 today, April 7, the TGV high-speed train – coming from Dunkirk and heading to Paris – hit a trailer, part of a special military convoy carrying a mobile bridge. The collision occurred near the level crossing just outside Nœux-les-Mines, a town located between Lens and Béthune. Although the convoy was a TGV, the train was not traveling at high speed on that stretch of track: nevertheless, the impact was violent enough to cause the death of the driver.
The exact circumstances of the accident are not yet known: the suspension of rail traffic will allow investigators to determine possible causes, remove damaged material and assess the condition of the infrastructure. As stated by the SNCF on its website, neighboring lines may also be affected, with electricity having nevertheless “been restored in the area, but changes have been made to train timetables to allow routes to be diverted”.
The characteristics of the TGV, the French high-speed train
The TGV (“Train à Grande Vitesse”) is the French high-speed train operated by SNCF (Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français), the national railway company. Entering service in September 1981, the TGV made the first connections between Paris and Lyon using the new high-speed line built between Saint-Florentin and Sathonay-Camp, near Lyon, then establishing a speed record of 380 km/h.
Starting from the 1990s, the SNCF then extended the service to various European capitals, connecting Paris and London as early as 1994 and operating connections with the cities of Milan, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Luxembourg and Barcelona. Today the TGV reaches one of the highest speeds on rail, reaching 574.8 km/h.
