Hours and hours of waiting on a snowy platform… To finally turn around and board another train. This Friday, passengers on a Ouigo linking Paris to Marseille found themselves stuck for nearly 6 hours in the Yonne, halfway, before having to turn around towards Paris.
“The departure was scheduled for 6:03 a.m. from Gare de Lyon, and the train was to serve Avignon, Aix-en-Provence, Marseille at 9:23 a.m.… It left on time, then it stopped for the first time around 7 a.m., in the middle of the track,” says Karim*, one of the passengers, to Le Parisien. A first notification then appeared on the young man’s phone, indicating a “switch failure”.
“The train was able to leave, then stopped again at 8 a.m.,” continues the 24-year-old student. The wait then lasts an hour. “We received another message telling us there was a braking problem. Then, we were told that there was another problem, that we were going to stop in the town of Sens (in Yonne)and that there, another train would come to pick us up to continue the journey. »
More than eight hours lost
Finally, “we stop in another town, Laroche-Migennes, at 9 a.m.,” explains Karim. The passengers are then disembarked on the snowy platform of the station. Only bottled water is distributed. But no food. “Some stayed inside the train, it was very, very cold on the platform,” describes Karim.
In the group of travelers, the student notes the presence of around “twenty Chinese tourists, who missed their ferry in Marseille”. “There were also five people who were supposed to travel to Malaga, they also missed their bus.” On board, confusion reigns. “Every time we asked the controllers for information, they told us that they knew nothing, that they were like us,” says Karim.
Around 1 p.m., hope was reborn. A new announcement tells travelers that the train, made up of two trainsets, will be divided: one must continue the route to Marseille, the other must return to Paris. Thirty minutes later, it's a cold shower. “We were told that we were all going to return to Paris, and take another train to Marseille. »
Travelers reimbursed at 200%
Shortly after 2 p.m., the train affected by the incident finally arrived at Lyon station in Paris. There, the travelers were finally able to get something to eat, before boarding, shortly before 3 p.m., on another train towards the Marseille city. On the arrivals board at Marseille station, a delay of 6 hours is displayed for the initial 6:03 a.m. train. If the emergency train arrives on time, travelers will have lost more than 8 hours of their day.
Contacted, the SNCF indicated that due to “climatic conditions, this train was confronted with a pantograph problem, undoubtedly linked to frost on the catenary, preventing the train from continuing its journey”. “We therefore had to find a new train, transfer the customers there in order to take them to their destination,” adds the SNCF.
Injured travelers “who have been reimbursed 100% of the price of their ticket will also – given the exceptional situation – be awarded additional compensation of 100% in Ouigo vouchers,” adds the railway company.
*The first name has been changed.
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