The driver of a high-speed train (TGV) has died and at least eight people were injured after the convoy collided with a truck on a level crossing on the line between the cities of Béthune and Lens in northern France, firefighters told the Ici Nord radio station.
The newspaper La Voix du Nord stated that the accident occurred around 7:00 in the morning at the Mazingarbe level crossing, in the municipality of Bully les Mines, on a TGV that was traveling between Dunkirk and Paris with 243 passengers.
The train hit the trailer of a truck that was crossing the tracks. The driver of the convoy lost his life and seven of the passengers, as well as the truck driver, were also injured.
The regional train service (TER) of the Hauts de France region has indicated on its social networks that as a result of the incident, traffic between Béthune and Lens has been interrupted until the end of the day and that the power supply has also been cut off on the Lille-Béthune, Lille-Lens and Lille-Douai axes.
The French Minister of Transport, Philippe Tabarot, announced in a message on his social networks that he was going to travel to the site of the accident – of which he did not give details about its magnitude – together with the CEO of the state railway company SNCF, Jean Castex.
The second large convoy to be trapped at a level crossing in a week.
The French train drivers’ unions have sent condolences for the death of the train driver after the collision and reported that it is the second large convoy to be trapped at a level crossing in a week.
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