The accident caused a stir among the unions of the French National Railway Company (SNCF) and blocked train traffic for several hours between Paris and the South-West. The investigations into the death of an SNCF engineer, buried on July 25 by the collapse of a drilling well near the tracks on the construction site of a bridge near the station of Massy-Palaiseau (Essonne), were requalified by justice, Thursday, October 21.
The investigation, which had initially been opened for “research into the causes of death”, was requalified, on August 30, in investigation for “manslaughter against X” and for “criminal breaches of labor law”, announced the prosecutor’s office of Evry (Essonne).
“Dangerousness of the railway sector”
This requalification was motivated by the first feedback of expertise, said a judicial source. In the aftermath of“Land subsidence during a tour of the site” which caused the death of the engineer, the SNCF unions had all expressed their “Emotion” and alerted on “The dangerousness of the railway sector”.
“The safety of personnel and traffic must remain an absolute priority. This requires public control of the network, with staff trained and applying strict safety rules ”, recalled the CGT-Cheminots, which had promised to “Do everything possible to shed light on the circumstances” drama.
The UNSA-Ferroviaire had for its part “Demanded that lessons be learned” of the accident and FO-Cheminots had warned that “Follow[ait] take a closer look at the conclusions of the current investigations ” as well as “The measures which should[aient] to be taken ” for “Avoid such tragedies”.
Contacted by Agence France-Presse, SNCF management refused to comment on this case on the grounds that the procedure is ongoing.
The victim was an executive and operations pilot in the network modernization department. The Chairman and CEO of the group, Jean-Pierre Farandou, had expressed his “Lively emotion” and offered his condolences “On behalf of the company”. This fatal accident had led to the interruption of TGV traffic on Sunday late afternoon, the day of the tragedy, between the Paris-Montparnasse station and the South-West. Traffic did not return to normal until Monday morning.