Kite on line stops trains in tracks

COMMUTERS looking forward to today's bank holiday as they headed home on trains between Nice and Menton yesterday faced delays and cancellations - because a kite was caught on overhead wires.

TER services were cancelled or disrupted for at least an hour from about 5.30pm after strong winds blew the kite into power cables above the tracks.

As SNCF technicians cut power to the cables and worked to unravel the kite’s lines from the overhead cables, passengers stuck on a train that had stopped a few metres from Nice-Riquier chose to get off and walk to the station.

“We were packed in like sardines,” one passenger told local newspaper Nice-Matin.

The delay - and its cause - may have been frustrating for commuters, but there was a genuine reason. Kite lines that strike and tangle on electrical power cables may cause power blackouts.

Photo: Patrick Janicek