France Train Derails

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Nando Times

PARIS (June 5, 2000 5:59 p.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - A Eurostar passenger train heading from Paris to London derailed Monday and seven of its 501 passengers were bruised, the French train authority said.

The Eurostar "partially left the tracks" shortly before 6 p.m. at Croisilles, about 110 miles northeast of Paris, the rail authority said. It said the cars remained upright.

The train was traveling at 150 mph at the time. The cause of the derailment was not immediately known.

The derailment temporarily halted traffic on the line. The passengers from the derailed train were taken to Lille by bus to catch another Eurostar.

The Eurostar travels between Paris and London, passing under the English Channel, in three hours.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), June 05, 2000

Answers

BBC

Tuesday, 6 June, 2000, 02:08 GMT 03:08 UK Eurostar derailment 'not sabotage'

Passengers remained calm after the acccident Police investigating the partial derailment of a Eurostar train travelling from Paris to London on Monday have said they do not suspect sabotage.

The wheels of the front and the back power cars came off the rails near the town of Arras, near Lille, while the train was travelling at around 300kph (200 mph)

The train came to a halt on the track bed but none of the carriages flipped over and most of those on board were unhurt..

A police spokesman said there "does not appear to be any indication of sabotage and we are treating it as a mechanical accident".

(snip)

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), June 05, 2000.


Update in London Times, Tuesday, June 06, 2000:

...Investigators believe that the front engine car became derailed before the train skidded hundreds of yards to a halt. At some point the rear engine unit is also thought to have become derailed. What caused either section to come off the tracks was mystifying rail staff, although last night SNCF sources suggested that a defect in a wheel or a suspension mechanism could have been responsible.

http://www.the- times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/2000/06/06/timfgneur02012.html

-- Doris (reaper1@mindspring.com), June 06, 2000.


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