French TGV in a canal

Cause: excesive speed. I thought they were supposed to go fast.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34822666" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This has not made the news here, which is surprising ,even to mention it was not terrorist related.
Mybe because there were no public passengers involved .

Several children were on board when a high-speed train derailed during a test run in France, killing 11 people, the rail company SNCF has said.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34827049" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The events in Paris and Syria have dominated the news cycle. I reckon SNCF is also keen to keep a lid on things while the government is occupied with security matters.

philipmartin wrote:Cause: excesive speed. I thought they were supposed to go fast.

Not on sharp curves just before a junction.

Details of fatal LGV test train derailment emerge

The previous post confirms my assumption that the accident has happened near or at the junction with the conventional line which would bring the trains into Strasbourg proper where excess speed can be an issue. I do not think the SNCF wants to put a lid on this, quite frankly that is impossible in (Western)Europe with an accident of this magnitude.

kaitoku wrote:The events in Paris and Syria have dominated the news cycle. I reckon SNCF is also keen to keep a lid on things while the government is occupied with security matters.

Yes, pretty hard to get a journalist to leave Paris at the moment, I would imagine.
It was on page 19 of today's paper as it happens.

As NS3737 says, I doubt whether there is any intention by anybody to "keep a lid" on this. Apart from anything else there will automatically have to be a full investigation by the French rail accident authorities, and probably by the police and coroner, whatever the system is in France. But in terms of public visibility, it is certainly much lower down the scale than it would have been if the attacks in Paris had not occurred at the same time.

I herd it on a news radio station here, (I don't have TV; (this laptop serves as my TV,) I guess about eight hours after it happened. And following David's dictum, I Googled it and came up with the BBC article. There don't seem to be a lot of details in these BBC articles.
Thank you for the diagram, John.

Well the fact that children were riding on test train with safety systems disabled, and that subsequently derailed could present a highly embarrassing and costly mistake for SNCF and France`s overseas marketing of their high speed rail systems.

philipmartin wrote:Cause: excesive speed. I thought they were supposed to go fast.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34822666" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This was a test run to find out if there are problems. Almost certainly there is a problem with the track. But it was unwise to take passengers.

according the engineer, he did not speed and train was traveling at correct speed of 103 mph according statements made at French Justice Dept.

This google satellite search shows the new line been built north of the village. the bends over the canal are quite sharp, for a high speed line.
https://www.google.co.nz/maps/place/Eck ... b99a395af0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

According to johnthefireman's post above, the location is just where the LGV joins the "classic" network, at which point an eastbound TGV would be reducing speed to the maximum authorized speed on the classic line, unlikely to be more than 160 km/h. The speed cited by Dutch was appropriate for a train decelerating to that speed. (The children aboard were likely to be children of the technicians on board, thrilled to be riding on the test train with daddy. That part is really sad.)

"Late braking caused TGV derailment, says SNCF"
http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/news ... -sncf.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"The report has concluded that the ‘certain cause’ of the accident was ‘a late braking sequence’. The train derailed at 243 km/h after entering a 945 m radius curve over a canal at Eckwersheim at 265 km/h, instead of the 176 km/h limit applying to that point in the test run. The resulting centrifugal force destabilised the TGV causing the vehicles to derail, with some coming to rest in the canal. The curve forms the approach to the grade-separated junction between LGV Est and the Paris – Strasbourg main line at Vendenheim. "