Another difficult evening for thousands of users. Traffic was interrupted between Rennes and Vitré on Sunday evening, SNCF said on its website, causing the forced stop of several trains to or from Montparnasse station in Paris.
“Following a collision by a train at the entrance to Rennes, all traffic is interrupted between Rennes and Vitré in both directions. The SNCF teams are going to the site,” the railway company indicated on its website in the evening. The high-speed line, which links Rennes to Paris, was blocked in both directions on this portion.
On the eve of the start of the school year, several TGVs found themselves immobilized for several hours. “The announcements from the captain were immediately and very clear: it will last a very long time,” says Fabrice, who was on one of these trains heading to Paris. His TGV was immobilized around 9 p.m.
For many minutes, users did not know the nature of the incident. “It’s a real hassle,” says Michaël from another stationary train. “We were told about a collision without specifying its nature for the moment. There was nothing on offer in terms of drinks or anything else,” he regrets. His train, which left Quimper, was initially scheduled to arrive in the capital at 9:59 p.m. At the time of writing, he hoped to be able to set foot on the platform at 12:35 a.m.
Travelers heading to Rennes were also affected by this incident. Amélie was due to arrive in Rennes at 9:25 p.m. An hour and a half later, his train finally headed towards Laval. “We finally arrived a little more than two hours late,” explains the young woman, who sees this as “good news” given that most people on the train “expected worse.”
Shortly before 11 p.m., travelers received more information on the nature of the accident. “The TGV hit an animal,” announced the head of the train in which Fabrice was. His train was able to leave and was due to arrive before 1 a.m. at Paris Montparnasse. “Dear users, the metro will still work,” she then said to users, provoking bursts of laughter in the carriage. Before announcing that it was making itself available to customers for possible compensation for taxis.
In total, more than ten trains destined for Paris Montparnasse were expected to arrive on Sunday evening several tens of minutes or even several hours late in the capital. Fewer disruptions were observed in the Paris-Rennes direction.
