At 11:50 yesterday, passengers on an RER C train into Paris near Ablon were surprised* when a fishplate pierced the floor. Fortunately it didn't do much further harm, ending up lying in the aisle.
According to the head of
SNCF▸ Réseau, this was just minor incident - no comparison with Brétigny-sur-Orge, where an ill-bolted fishplate derailed an express train. There is a lot of work going on to catch up their maintenance backlog, and track workers customarily leave their tools and stuff in the six-foot when they withdraw from the track as a train approaches. Someone left this sizeable lump of steel just foul of the track, and that's what happens. However, questions will obviously be asked of SNCF Réseau - should they have been working there, on an open line, at midday?
Given that the government are currently thinking about the future of SNCF and how to rearrange its components, this could be seen as tactless.
No English report so far - this is
from Le Parisien:
*I assume this is an understatement.