Paris train crash: track fault could be to blame

Six people were killed and a further 22 people were seriously injured, with several dozen more hurt, when the intercity train derailed at Bretigny-sur-Orge and mounted a station platform on Friday.

French rail company SNCF said on Saturday that the crash was probably caused by a loose steel plate at a junction.

The steel plate, which should have remained bolted onto the track, moved to “the middle of the track junction”, preventing the rolling stock from passing through, SNCF said.

“The reasons why this fishplate dislocated itself is the very focus of the investigations,” SNCF head Guillaume Pepy said, adding the train operator would immediately start checking some 5,000 similar junctions throughout the French rail network.

The incident came as many French families began to embark on their summer holiday getaways, and marred festivities for Bastille Day on 14 July.

Rescue operation

Workers spent the night cutting through tangled metal, but found no more victims. A crane was brought in to lift a carriage that fell onto its side and others torn open in the accident.

Local Essonne region prefect Michel Fuzeau said more bodies might still be found in the wreckage and under the tilted carriage but the rescue team’s dogs had not detected any more casualties so far.

“We maintain our rescue operation,” he said.

Transport Minister Frederic Cuvillier told France Info the accident could have been worse if the driver had not reacted quickly to avoid hitting another train 200 metres away.

French President Francois Hollande went to the scene of the crash on Saturday to speak to the families of the victims.