Gare de Lyon rail accident
Memorial of the crash inside the station
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| Date | June 27 1988 |
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| Time | 19:09 |
| Location | Paris-Gare de Lyon rail station |
| Country | France |
| Rail line | Melun-Paris Commuter Service |
| Operator | SNCF |
| Type of incident | Rear-end collision |
| Cause | Disabling of braking system caused by driver error |
| Statistics | |
| Trains | Two SNCF Class Z 5300 electric multiple units |
| Deaths | 56 |
| Injuries | 55 |
The Gare de Lyon rail accident occurred on June 27 1988, when an SNCF commuter train headed inbound to Paris's Gare de Lyon terminal crashed into a stationary outbound train, killing 56 and injuring 55.
On June 27 1988, SNCF commuter train 153944 inbound to Paris' Gare de Lyon terminal from Melun to the southeast was running its routine 50-mile journey, using one of SNCF's electric multiple units, Class Z 5300. As the train neared Paris, it passed the Le Vert de Maisons station, which was usually a stop on the route. However, SNCF had recently implemented a new summer timetable, which meant train 153944 no longer stopped at the station.
As the train pulled past the platform, a passenger in the second car of the train suddenly stood up, pulled the emergency brake, and left the train. Driver Daniel Saulin, assisted by Guard Jean Charles Bovée, after working for 26 minutes, reset the brakes and continued. This procedure had taken longer than usual, prompting many passengers to leave the train. To make up the lost time, the station controller at Gare de Lyon, André Tollance, instructed Saulin to skip the next scheduled stop (and the last before the terminal), Maisons-Alfort.
Soon after the train passed Maisons-Alfort, it reached a four-degree grade that led to Gare de Lyon. When Saulin passed a yellow signal instructing him to slow the train in preparation for being switched to an empty platform, Saulin discovered his brakes barely worked. As the train picked up speed from its descent, Saulin desperately radioed an emergency warning, but failed to identify himself to the controller. He pressed the general alarm button on his radio and left his cab to evacuate the passengers to the rear of the train.
Train 153944 crashed into a delayed outbound train as its passengers were evacuating, heeding warnings made by the delayed train's driver André Tanguy, who bravely remained in his cab repeating his warning until he was killed in the collision.
Initial thoughts were that the collision was the result of a terrorist act, due to a recent string of bombings of French trains in and around Paris. This theory was supported by the fact that investigators who were examining the wrecked shell of train 153944 found the main brake pipe valve, located behind the first car, closed. When open, this valve allows compressed air generated in the first car to travel back through the other cars to power the compressed air brakes. When closed, the brakes on all cars behind the valve are disabled. Despite the signs of possible terrorism, the investigators believed that only someone with detailed knowledge of the braking system's workings could have closed the valve.
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Wikipedia