The state of French track - documentary

[eisenach]

3 years on from the Brétigny accident, France 2 did a longish report on the state of French track, maintenance (or lack of it) and the 735xx diesel units which apparently keep disappearing from track circuits (déshuntage), meaning the signallers don't know where the unit is and/or it failing to trigger automatic level crossing barriers.
There was a lot of journalistic hype, of course, but some it seemed quite hair-raising.
If you understand French, the programme is available on YouTube here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYBdZch9EiI

(The clip also includes the 2nd part of the programme about Nicholas Sarkozy so don't be put off by it seeming to last over 2 hours !)

 

[Tim R-T-C]

Interesting link, even if I didn't follow much of it.

Another one to show the "European railways are so much better" brigade...

 

[duesselmartin]

I was just amazed of the felt state of the track in Italy on the Chiasso to Milan line. A very bumpy international corridor

 

[axlecounter]

I was just amazed of the felt state of the track in Italy on the Chiasso to Milan line. A very bumpy international corridor

That's quite a common bumpiness in Italy. Not sure that this can relate to safety risks though.

 

[AlexNL]

SNCF has responded to the documentary, the reply can be found here: https://twitter.com/Conducteur_SNCF/status/781959422578921472

 

[newmilton]

I do understand French and watched the whole programme, and the interview with the transport minister which followed. I also read the rebuttal from SNCF. Some of it was undoubtedly journalistic hype, but a lot of it was really quite alarming! But the minister certainly nailed the issue when he pointed out that for a long time ordinary routes were neglected in favour of the more glamorous high speed network. Anyone who has travelled off the high speed network can attest to that.

It also surprised me that the French railways rank only 6th for safety in Europe, with the UK railways in second place. But the omission of DB from the list of those railways behind which the French lag implies that the German railways rank even lower - also a surprise.

 

[duesselmartin]

Was any source for that list mentioned? If not what other countries are mentioned? Ich

 

[TRAX]

This is the ranking.

The presence of the SNCF corporate font indicates that it is the source.

 

[rf_ioliver]

Was any source for that list mentioned? If not what other countries are mentioned? Ich

What's the metric for this list? How is safety being measured here?

Ian

 

[TRAX]

No idea. It's equally mysterious as they have been able to have ranks with several countries...

 

[Tim R-T-C]

Are Finnish railways very dangerous? I haven't been on any but they seemed pretty standard from what I saw.

 

[Oscar]

Was any source for that list mentioned? If not what other countries are mentioned? Ich

It just said the list was created by Boston Consulting Group.
The list is:
1. Denmark
2. Great Britain
3. Luxembourg
4. Switzerland
5. Ireland
6. France

 

[rf_ioliver]

Are Finnish railways very dangerous? I haven't been on any but they seemed pretty standard from what I saw.

This is precisely what I was thinking. The only major problems we have here are animal accidents (moose), suicides and level crossing accidents - the latter mainly down to driver error.

As for accidents involving passenger injuries etc, its been a long while since we've had any incident of that nature. There were a few back in the 1990s (Jokela and Jyväskylä).

The network is relatively modern, trains are for the most part very new with the suburban network around Helsinki receiving new trains at the moment.

t.

Ian

 

[TRAX]

How can a level crossing accident be due to driver error ??

 

[mirodo]

How can a level crossing accident be due to driver error ??

Quite easily, if the driver in question is behind the wheel of a road vehicle rather than in the cab of a train.

 

[TRAX]

Ah that's more like it

 

[eisenach]

SNCF has responded to the documentary, the reply can be found here: https://twitter.com/Conducteur_SNCF/status/781959422578921472

Thanks for that. Interesting reading.

 

[rf_ioliver]

How can a level crossing accident be due to driver error ??

Car driver

Ian

 

[coppercapped]

For sources of data look up the ERA's site and follow the link to the Safety Performance Report.

The UK is remarkably good compared to the others.

 

[CC 72100]

3 years on from the Brétigny accident, France 2 did a longish report on the state of French track, maintenance (or lack of it) and the 735xx diesel units which apparently keep disappearing from track circuits (déshuntage), meaning the signallers don't know where the unit is and/or it failing to trigger automatic level crossing barriers.

Your link is now dead, new link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukUuYg25rIQ

Re. X73500 - sounds like track circuit actuators not actually communicating with the track circuits? I remember they were considered multi-only at one point last year to cut in half the chances of this happening?