France - railways, public transport, services and incidents (merged posts)

[whole diary]

[stuving]

Since the train is still sitting on the track (or what's left of it), the big crane coming to lift the remains is a rail crane. I guess they may take containers off separately. There are 28 wagons in all, though I'm not sure all are container flats.

Reopening will initially be just one track. For the other one, relaying it over 4.3 km is quoted as taking until mid-December and costing €13M. 

[Mark A]

Off topic: not knowing France well, and moved to check for diversionary routes between Toulouse and points east, the short answer is no. (The long answer is that there are some sights on Google Streetview that are a diversion in themselves, this being one. The viaduct being behind the camera, you'll need to turn round).

There seems to be a platform there too, shame it's not a formal station.

https://www.google.com/maps/@44.1258279,2.3314445,3a,75y,347.63h,99.12t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sP7KHJrpHdg-Wy8ftiPtJIA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!5m2!1e1!1e4

Mark

[Clan Line]

I read in today's paper that the French railways are also suffering strike action over the Christmas period. SNCF^▸ (Societe Nationale des Chemins de fer Francais - French National Railways) have stated that they will refund would-be passengers with double the fare they paid if they cannot travel.  Any chance GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), SWR^» (South Western Railway - about), TPE^▸ (Trans Pennine Express), Avanti, etc, etc, etc........................

[brooklea]

Think of the inflation that would stoke, as people rush to invest in First Class Anytime Returns, confident of rapidly doubling their money!

[stuving]

The refund/rebooking plus "exceptional" 200% compensation applies to SNCF^▸ (Societe Nationale des Chemins de fer Francais - French National Railways)-marketed services: TGV^▸ (Train a Grande Vitesse)(INOUI/OUIGO) and Intercités, which are all reserved places. For TERs they refer you to the relevant region. But that 200% whether you travel or not, for which e-mails are already going out, is obviously a big safety net, like the guarantees offered during Covid-time, to encourage customers to trust the proven untrustworthy.

In fact this strike, caused by a group of controlleurs, but negotiated by the unions for them, has just been settled. That is too late to save Christmas, but removes the threat of similar at New Year. Unless of course someone else wants to join in!

[TonyK]

Think of the inflation that would stoke, as people rush to invest in First Class Anytime Returns, confident of rapidly doubling their money!

It would be my luck to buy four 1st Class Anytime from Nice to Calais, then read that the strike has been called off at the last minute.

[infoman]

several persons injured at the station and a person has been neutralised.

Breaking news from Sky news.

(Edited to correct station name in case of ambiguity)

[GBM]

https://news.sky.com/story/paris-attack-man-neutralised-by-police-after-several-injured-at-gare-du-nord-12784080

[PhilWakely]

https://news.sky.com/story/paris-attack-man-neutralised-by-police-after-several-injured-at-gare-du-nord-12784080

Within a minute, off-duty police officers returning home from a night shift shot the attacker three times.

I am not sure whether to be worried, or reassured by that statement - an OFF-DUTY policeman carrying a gun!

[grahame]

I am not sure whether to be worried, or reassured by that statement - an OFF-DUTY policeman carrying a gun!

Gun culture varies the world over; be informed rather than just worried or re-assured?  An opposite extreme to the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) is the USA ... and I have stories I could tell; I have had a gun waved at me a couple of times by young Americans (and I would wager that both were loaded). So ... off duty police being armed (and I have a close encounter there too)  if just "deep breath and do nothing silly" - at least the deputy sheriff in question was trained, which one of the youths probably was not!

I'm noting in the US news that a 6 year old shot his teacher the other day.

[Electric train]

https://news.sky.com/story/paris-attack-man-neutralised-by-police-after-several-injured-at-gare-du-nord-12784080

Within a minute, off-duty police officers returning home from a night shift shot the attacker three times.

I am not sure whether to be worried, or reassured by that statement - an OFF-DUTY policeman carrying a gun!

It's not uncommon for Police Officer in Europe to keep their fire arms at home when not on duty

[infoman]

Was I wrong to post this info on the trip advisor sight?

[stuving]

Today services from the Gare Paris Est were hit for an unusual reason - sabotage. Overnight someone opened some cable ducts and cabinets, poured petrol on the cables, and lit it. The result was the destruction (as working cables) of 600 cables in 48 conduit channels. This was near a major signalling centre at Vaires-sur-Marne, controlling the line out of Paris Est, so all services are cancelled, except Transilien via Émerainville and a few TGVs^▸ (Train a Grande Vitesse) switched to Paris Nord. Maybe tomorrow, maybe not is the current estimate for resumption.

The news media (and SNCF^▸ (Societe Nationale des Chemins de fer Francais - French National Railways) and the government) have studiously avoided so far suggesting it might be linked to the current round of protest/agitation about pensions. But that must be a possibility, bearing in mind that it might not even be the fringe of the political groups, more the hangers-on who are always looking to have a bit of a riot or smash things.

There was another railway news item today that has got pushed to the side, as if there is a quota for railway news.That was a TER on the line up the valley to Moutiers that hit, and cut in half, a coach at a level crossing (at Cevins). The bus was empty, and its driver the only serious casualty, but the train was ripped open and a few passengers were injured. The coach driver may be able to explain why he was apparently stuck on the crossing.

[stuving]

Maybe sabotage isn't as rare as I thought. There were two similar events in 2021: in June near Valence and in October in four places at once, all on LGVs^▸ (Large Goods Vehicle). I don't think any culprit has ever been identified.

And one correction to the earlier report: it's now clear it was 48 cables, so must be 600 wires or circuits, that were involved. So repair of most of that overnight and during tomorrow is plausible.

[stuving]

SNCF^▸ (Societe Nationale des Chemins de fer Francais - French National Railways) did, indeed, get around half their services running on most lines from yesterday morning, and most of the rest by the afternoon. That looks impressive, since those trains were running while a lot of the wires were being worked on.

Assuming these installations are reasonably modern, wire wires can't be going very far - anything beyond the (very large) track network at Vaires would go by fibre, or at least trunk interconnection. So presumably it's a matter of how many tracks through Vaires can be got working. That still implies a lot of flexibility, to run through an area with half its signalling being worked on.

One odd point in the reporting is that one line affected was that to La Ferté-Milon, and that's the last non-electrified line in the Ile-de-France. The wording suggests that was a reason it was running, so I guess some (at least) of the cables controlled the OLE^▸ (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE") power. Maybe that makes it easier.