It’s 10:55 p.m., channel 2 bisthe RER WQWF enters La Plaine-Stade de France station, in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), lights off, doors closed, “so as not to make you want to”, explains the brunette woman in a red parka stationed in the middle of the platform heading towards Paris. It’s a bonus train, one of eight ” Shuttle Buses “ that Shérazade B., who did not wish to give his name, an executive at the SNCF, is on hand, this Saturday, October 14, to escort the 24,000 rugby fans who came via line B to watch the quarter-final of the World Cup.
Ireland lost to New Zealand about twelve minutes ago, and already the access ramps to the platform are crowded. A train ” regular ” arrived. At his signal, agents release the crowd in waves. An RER B is 1,700 people. A second follows. At 11:09 p.m., the site manager, that’s her role that evening, filled twelve minutes of ” hole ” with the WQWF. Two people from the SNCF follow her closely. Others observe from a little further away. In less than a year, during the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, it will perhaps be their turn to distribute without dragging so many people on trains.
At 11:12 p.m., a new bonus RER comes on the scene. “We load, we load”, insists Shérazade B. One eye on the screens, the other on the human sea gathered on the floor below, a radio and a telephone in hand, it is she who gauges the filling of the trains, decides on departures. The leader is known to everyone; teams from the railway police and the national police greet her.
The second shuttle is filling up, but also a classic, which was not expected. “Take the regular away from me, we’ll send the college away [le supplémentaire] », she announces on the radio. Slight floating. Enough for a first-time traveler to doubt – “Which one leaves first?” » – and rushes into the train opposite. Others got on board. “We don’t run”, shout the agents in red – many students – who watch helplessly as the train empties. Below, the crowd in green chants The Marseillaise. At the end of the platform, a man loses his shoe on the track. The regular ends up leaving; the shuttle follows, half empty. ” A misunderstanding “recognizes the site manager, but it is too much for the police, particularly on edge that day.
“Your trains are not full enough”
The day before, Friday October 13, France moved to the “emergency attack” level, after the assassination of Professor Dominique Bernard by a terrorist, in Arras. The station is packed. “There, that’s not possible. Your trains are not full enough »says a head of rail security. “I know, a misunderstanding”repeats the SNCF executive, trainer at Transilien University during the week. “But I am called behind. We have orders to evacuate as quickly as possible! » The national police get involved. “We cannot leave so many people in front of the barriers. Given the context, I am obliged to warn you. » “We do thirty Stade de France every year, sirPascal Desrousseaux, director of the northern branch of the RER B, calmly intervenes. Let’s keep calm, we have trains. Everyone will be happy when the people are gone. »
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