This Wednesday, November 23, in the middle of the afternoon, the derailment of a freight train at Carcassonne station completely stopped rail traffic in both directions. No injuries to report, but major damage to the tracks and platforms.
“A deafening noise accompanied by showers of sparks and a lot of smoke”. Like this man who was about to take the train to Narbonne this Wednesday, November 23 shortly after 5 p.m., there were about twenty people on platform n°1 when they were invited to enter the hall of Carcassonne station, at announcement of the sudden derailment of a freight train. Composed of twenty-eight wagons over a length of 700 meters, this train was arriving from Narbonne when two wagons separated from the whole shortly after Trèbes. The exact circumstances are still unknown. Having started a braking maneuver, the train, which had gone mad, then arrived at Carcassonne station, smashing the approaches to the platform, thus shattering impressive concrete blocks on the track. The rails were also badly damaged, even torn off on certain sections. “Fortunately there was no one on the platform when the train arrived at the station. There could have been many injuries, even deaths”loose an SNCF security guard still in shock at what had just happened.
Fortunately, there was no one on the platform when the train arrived at the station. There could have been many injuries or even deaths
Very quickly, about fifteen firefighters from the main rescue center in Carcassonne were engaged in this intervention, under the command of Captain Jean-Baptiste Fromont. Fearing the risk of hazardous materials being transported on this train, the mobile chemical and biological intervention unit was also engaged. It should be noted that the reconnaissance carried out subsequently on the impacted wagons made it possible to rule out any danger. On the spot, national and municipal police secured the rescue organization, while dozens of passengers were stranded in the station hall in search of a solution to return to their destination. All traffic has been interrupted until further notice, with in particular the abolition of TER trains to reach Quillan, Nîmes, Perpignan or Toulouse. Delays have also been caused for TGVs or even Intercités.
No recovery before this Thursday afternoon
“Between Castelnaudary and Narbonne, traffic has been interrupted since 5 p.m., replacement buses have been put in place to allow travelers to reach their destination” explained this Wednesday evening the SNCF. A resumption of rail traffic was not envisaged before this Thursday, November 24 in the afternoon throughout the Aude department. Until the resumption of rail traffic, replacement buses have been put in place, without the SNCF being able to ensure that the train schedules are followed to the letter on Thursday.
SNCF Réseau dispatched a team of experts from Toulouse to determine the cause of the accident and quantify the extent of the damage. The damaged track was the subject of a vast track renovation project over 4.3 km at a cost of €13 million, which was to be completed in mid-December. The part under the station canopy was finished. It had been started in April.
Tags: Carcassonne Accident station deafening noise accompanied showers sparks
