During the trial in the spring, the prosecution denounced “collective blindness” in the conduct of the overspeed tests and a series of “absurd” decisions. Prosecutor Nicolas Hennebelle wanted five of the six defendants, including SNCF, SNCF Réseau (responsible for track management) and Systra, to be found guilty.
According to the prosecutor, SNCF, Systra and SNCF Réseau did not correctly assess the risks.
Up to three years in prison
He demanded heavy fines against these three companies: 225,000 euros, the legal maximum incurred, against Systra which “bears the greatest responsibility” and 200,000 and 150,000 euros against SNCF and SNCF Réseau, multiplied by two due to the state of legal recidivism of these two entities, i.e. respectively 400,000 and 300,000 euros.
Faced with “the suffering of the victims” and the “unspeakable pain” of having lost a loved one, the sentences required “have only a symbolic aspect”, admitted the prosecutor. “I regret that the legal maximum is not up to par,” he stressed.
The representative of the prosecution also requested a one-year suspended prison sentence against the driver of the TGV, Denis T., and a two-year suspended sentence against his colleague responsible for indicating the braking points, Francis L., of whom he castigated “ the total lack of rigor.”
Both men face up to three years in prison.
“Sum of errors”
The prosecutor, however, requested the release of a third man present in the cockpit at the time of the accident: Philippe B., a Systra agent responsible for informing the driver of the particularities of the track, believing that he did not had played no role in determining the braking points.
“We hope that the court […] will clearly expose the culpability of the railway companies but also of the men who were in charge and who were at fault, as the accident turned out to be the consequence of a number of errors, organizational and conduct errors”, indicated Gérard Chemla, lawyer for around fifty civil parties.
“For more than two months (the time of the trial, editor’s note), we were able to measure the inconsistencies, the disorganizations and the limits of the organizations of these large companies which only passed the buck,” he said. added.
During the nine weeks of the trial, the defendants continued to blame each other, without recognizing their own responsibility. “We were bad,” the SNCF representative conceded during the hearing. Before immediately adding: “But not bad on everything. »
This systematic denial has often exasperated the bereaved and survivors.
Almost 100 km/h too fast
The TGV, which was carrying out tests on the final portion of the Paris-Strasbourg high-speed line (LGV) before opening to the public, approached a curve at 265 km/h, well above 176 km/h. provided at this location, due to a too late braking point.
It derailed, hitting the parapet of the bridge over the Marne-Rhine canal near Eckwersheim, 20 km from Strasbourg, at an estimated speed of 243 km/h.
The investigation established that neither the equipment nor the track could be blamed to explain the derailment of the TGV which was transporting 53 people, including 35 “guests”.
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