Poor maintenance cited in deadly French train accident
A team of experts investigating one of France’s worst ever train accidents last summer found major flaws in its rail system, adding that was in an unprecedented state of decay.
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State-owned rail operator SNCF said last year that the July 2013 accident in Bretigny-sur-Orge outside of Paris, which left seven people dead and dozens injured, was caused by a steel clip that was intended to be bolted to the track detached and blocked the track.
The intercity Paris-Limoges train was packed with 385 people when it jumped the tracks and crashed into the platform 26km south of the capital.
Transport Minister Frederic Cuvillier responded to the report on Monday by saying that France's rail system had become "extremely rundown" but insisted that safety concerns linked to last year's accident were being addressed.
Court-appointed investigators Michel Dubernard and Pierre Henquenet found that the plate gradually became loose over several months, according to a report published Monday in French newspaper Le Figaro.
The experts ruled out the accident as a “malicious act”, but found more than 200 irregularities in the section of rail track surveyed.
Le Figaro quoted an expert in the report as saying that “most anomalies were known by the SNCF or its agents and yet they did not remedy them in adequate fashion.”
The SNCF extensively checked all rail switch points after the accident on July 12 and swiftly opened a judicial inquiry to investigate whether charges of involuntary homicide should be made.
The accident was the worst ever since 2008 when seven students died after a train collided with a school bus.
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