by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief
PARIS, FRANCE (Worthy News) – French investigators are trying to determine how a massive piece of rail ended up on a railway track in Normandy, causing a passenger train carrying 186 people to derail and leaving 44 injured.
The regional TER train from Rouen to Caen derailed at about 7:45 p.m. local time Friday near Cléon in the Seine-Maritime department, south of Rouen.
Investigators believe the train struck a separate piece of rail lying on the track. The metal section was estimated to weigh between 250 and 300 kilograms (550-660 pounds).
Despite initial suspicions of sabotage, Rouen prosecutor Sébastien Gallois stressed there was so far no evidence that someone deliberately intended to derail the train.
“At this stage, there is no evidence of a malicious act committed with the deliberate intention of derailing the train, and even less of an attack,” he said.
ALL POSSIBILITIES OPEN
However, French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said Sunday that no hypothesis had been ruled out or given priority as investigators sought to establish how the heavy piece of rail came to be on an active railway line.
Normandy regional president Hervé Morin has argued that deliberate interference appears the most likely explanation, noting that another train passed safely through the area about an hour earlier and that no maintenance work had reportedly taken place in between.
He described the possible cause as an act that could be considered “criminal.”
The force of the crash overturned one carriage and sent four others off the rails. Morin said the front of the train was turned around by the impact.
Police seized the train’s event recorder, commonly known as its “black box,” while forensic examinations and witness interviews continued. A judicial expert was also appointed to help establish the circumstances of the crash.
VICTIM OUT OF DANGER
The accident left dozens of passengers hurt, though most were not seriously injured. An 18-year-old woman who was initially in critical condition and airlifted to Rouen University Hospital was no longer in danger and was not expected to suffer serious permanent injuries, prosecutors said.
Three other passengers remained hospitalized, but authorities said their conditions were not considered serious.
About 130 firefighters, five medical teams and 80 emergency vehicles were deployed following the derailment.
Cléon Mayor Mélanie Delacour said shattered windows and stones thrown into the carriages by the force of the crash left passengers deeply shaken.
Some told her they would “never take the train again,” she recalled, describing an accident that could have become “a catastrophe on a very large scale.”
PREVIOUS TRACK OBSTRUCTIONS
The derailment came just months after another French regional passenger train encountered an object deliberately placed on railway tracks.
In May, a TER carrying about 100 passengers from Dijon toward Paris struck a piece of wood that authorities said had intentionally been placed across the tracks in Côte-d’Or. The train did not derail, and nobody was injured, but authorities opened an investigation into the deliberate obstruction.
Yet objects or railway components on tracks have also caused deadly accidents without criminal involvement.
Seven people were killed at Brétigny-sur-Orge, south of Paris, in July 2013 after part of a track assembly progressively came loose and ultimately lodged in the railway, causing several carriages to derail.
Two years later, 11 people died when a high-speed TGV test train derailed near Eckwersheim, close to Strasbourg. Investigators attributed the disaster to excessive speed and braking problems, not outside interference.
Following previous rail disasters, authorities investigating the latest derailment in Normandy are hard-pressed to explain how an unusually heavy section of rail ended up on the track.
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