Rodents blamed for Pau rail collision
SNCF investigation says that cables damaged by rodents led to crucial signal failure
SNCF HAS said it will check the 10,000 railway signals after it confirmed that rodents chewing through cables led to a failure that resulted in the collision between a two trains earlier this month near Pau, southwest France, earlier this month.
As reported, the TGV, which was travelling from Tarbes to Paris, was carrying 178 passengers when it was hit from behind by the regional TER train, with 60 passengers on board, the newspaper Sud Ouest reported.
Forty people were injured in the collision, three of them seriously.
SNCF’s investigation into the collision has concluded that cables damaged by rodents caused a signal to malfunction.
It was showing green when it was passed by the TER, the report said. Shortly after, the regional train hit the back of the TGV, despite the efforts of the driver to brake.
SNCF said it would check 10,000 signal installations by the end of September to ensure that this “exceptional and unprecedented” incident would not be repeated.
Rodents have hit the headlines in Paris, too, after an explosion in the rat population forced bosses at the Louvre to call in private pest controllers.
The animals have been filmed out in the open among picnicking Parisians and tourists at the Jardin du Carrousel, between the museum and the Jardin des Tuileries.
