by Marie JULIEN
INGENHEIM, France (AFP) — A French high-speed TGV train derailed early Thursday after an embankment collapsed into the tracks in eastern France, seriously injuring the driver and hurting 21 others.
The bullet train was heading to Paris at around 270 km/h (170 mph) when the locomotive ran off the tracks near Ingenheim, around 30 kilometers (20 miles) northwest of Strasbourg.
The driver sustained a crushed chest and was evacuated by helicopter in critical condition, said Dominique Schuffenecker of the Bas-Rhin regional authority.
National rail operator SNCF said he was expected to survive, while the crew chief on the train suffered a back injury and one passenger suffered a facial injury.
Most of the other injuries among the 348 passengers on board were minor, though some were treated for bruises or shock, Schuffenecker said.
The train was still intact but the locomotive was leaning on its side and four other wagons were also off the tracks, which were bent near the area where the embankment collapsed, according to AFP journalists at the scene.
“Despite going off the tracks, the TGV remained upright,” SNCF said in a Twitter post that included a picture of what it called “a major landslide.”
“The necessary security mechanisms… functioned perfectly,” it added.
Nearly 100 rescue workers and dozens of fire trucks were at the scene of the accident, which occurred around 20 minutes after the train left Strasbourg at 7:19 am (0619 GMT).
Several passengers were taken by bus to a community hall in Ingenheim, where a crisis medical centre was installed.
‘Like in a washing machine’
“The rails moved under the TGV,” the SNCF’s regional director Stephanie Dommange told journalists.
A spokesman said the driver was able to apply the emergency brakes.
Union sources noted the heavy precipitation in the region recently which could have caused the landslide that damaged the tracks near Saverne, near the German border.
The CFDT union said the accident “raises questions… over how to ensure the security of equipment on terrain susceptible to climate hazards, and how to verify the state of tracks in real-time.”
But Dommange said high-speed lines, in particular, are regularly maintained and “are made to withstand rain.”
The SNCF, as well as local prosecutors, have opened inquiries.
“The impact was quite violent… we were holding on to our trays to keep from being thrown forward,” passenger Abba Perez told AFP. “It was incredibly loud, we had no idea what was happening.”
Many passengers were shaken by the accident, with some saying their backs had been hurt, but “there wasn’t any wave of panic,” he said.
Another passenger, who gave his name as Philippe, told the Top Music local radio station that “It felt like we were in a washing machine.”
“Rocks were flying everywhere and the windows all shattered,” he said. “We were all in a bit of shock.”
The SNCF said other trains were still operating between Strasbourg and Paris, bypassing the site of the accident on an alternative route.
In November 2015, a next-generation TGV train jumped the tracks in nearby Eckwersheim, also just north of Strasbourg, during a test run, sending part of the train into a canal in an accident that killed 11 people.
© Agence France-Presse