Collision between two trams in Strasbourg: “The train that got off was not equipped” with a safety system

The train that caused the tram accident that left 68 people slightly injured on Saturday in Strasbourg, in eastern France, did not have a safety system to prevent it from rolling backwards

The train that caused the tram accident that left 68 people slightly injured on Saturday at Strasbourg station in eastern France did not have a safety system to prevent it from rolling backwards, the CEO of the Compagnie des transports strasbourgeois (CTS) said Monday morning.

“The train that went down was not equipped. It is a train that dates from the 2000s, and this system did not exist at the time”, Emmanuel Auneau said on Ici Alsace radio. However, “it is fully compliant and approved for use on the network”.

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“The windows shattered, the doors flew off”

The tram, stopped on an upward slope due to a traffic jam caused by a demonstration, “was supposed to start again and do a sort of hill start, which it failed to do”, he explained.

The train then went backwards and hit the one following it, stopped at the platform at the underground station of Strasbourg station.

“We couldn't nothing to do. The windows shattered, the doors flew off. There was panic. People were screaming, some were helping others”, said a man on one of the trams.

Two investigations underway

Two investigations are underway: one, judicial, for unintentional injuries, aims to establish possible criminal liability; the other, technical, aims to understand how the accident happened.

Tram traffic, interrupted in the station where the accident took place, should remain disrupted at least “until the end of the week”, added Emmanuel Auneau.

The drivers of the two trains that collided are physically unharmed, but “psychologically extremely shocked”, in particular the driver of the train that went backwards, he specified.