Following the most catastrophic TGV incident ever recorded, SNCF and the involved train operator were found guilty of negligent manslaughter.
Almost a decade after a TGV test train collided with an embankment in Alsace, causing 11 fatalities and injuring 42 individuals, a French court found SNCF, the train operator, the driver, and other defendants guilty of negligent homicide. On November 14, 2015, the Paris-bound train decelerated too late and derailed at high speed in a bend near Strasbourg, eventually plunging into the Rhine-Marne canal at Eckwersheim. This was the most serious TGV accident in France since the introduction of high-speed rail over four decades ago.
The railway, two subsidiaries, and three employees faced charges in court, where they pointed fingers at each other and denied accountability. The railway employee in charge of setting the braking point inside the cabin was handed a 15-month suspended sentence, as reported by "Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace."
The driver was given a seven-month suspended sentence, while another railway employee in the driver's cabin was cleared of all charges. SNCF was fined €400,000, while its two subsidiaries were hit with fines of €225,000 and €150,000 respectively.
The accident was connected to the preliminary stages of the second section of the high-speed line connecting Paris to Strasbourg, serving trains to Stuttgart and Frankfurt. The day of the incident, the train was intended to travel faster than normal. A safety feature that would have automatically braked the train before the bend at high speed was disabled.
The railway workers failed to accurately calculate the braking point and instead allowed the train to reach the curve at an illegal 265 km/h, rather than the permitted 176 km/h.
The French court officially convicted SNCF, the driver, and other defendants for their roles in the negligent homicide known as 'The killing' during the TGV test train accident. The railway employee responsible for setting the braking point inside the cabin was sentenced to 15 months for his part in 'The killing'.
