Almost nine years after the accident, the trial of one of the worst rail disasters in France opens Monday afternoon before the court in Évry (Essonne), which will judge for eight weeks the National SNCF Company, SNCF Network and a framework.
Read alsoInvestigation into the Brétigny accident: the forcing of the SNCF
The criminal court must, until June 17, establish the responsibilities of each in the derailment of the Intercités Paris-Limoges train n ° 3657, July 12, 2013 at 5:11 p.m., in Brétigny-sur-Orge station.
This Friday of departure on vacation, six people, aged 19 to 82, die.
A seventh, seriously injured, died a fortnight later.
Three were on the train and four on the platform.
Twenty-five witnesses and four experts are called by the court to clarify this tragedy and understand the causes of the reversal of a steel fishplate - a sort of large staple joining two rails.
It was this reversal that derailed the train traveling at 137 km/h (for a speed limit of 150 km/h).
Seven years of investigation and battle of expertise will be deciphered during the trial which begins Monday at 1:30 p.m. with the reading of the alleged facts and the report of President Cécile Louis-Loyant.
Appearing on the bench of the defendants will be the executive who carried out the last round of surveillance, the manager of the SNCF Réseau tracks (which succeeded Réseau ferré de France) and the Société nationale SNCF (heiress under criminal law of SNCF Infra, responsible for maintenance) for “manslaughter” and “unintentional injury”.
“A pot of earth against the railroad”
The prosecution, represented by the prosecutor Rodolphe Juy-Birmann, accuses SNCF Réseau
of "faults"
having
"led to the absence of early renewal"
of the track or to
"insufficient staff"
, as well as failures
" in the organization, control and performance of maintenance operations"
to the Société Nationale SNCF.
Aged 24 at the time of the events, the railway worker, local director, will have to answer for
"a faulty assessment"
: that of having carried out
"only the last inspection of the tracks" , with
"manifestly insufficient"
attention.
, eight days before the derailment.
Asked, their lawyers did not wish to speak before the debates.
To date, 435 victims have been identified.
Among them, 184, including nine legal persons, are civil parties and will be represented by around fifty lawyers.
To accommodate them, the Evry court took up an organizational challenge.
Holding the debates within the palace itself was essential to preserve
"an equality of arms"
between civil parties and defendants, explained the president of the court, Benjamin Deparis, to AFPTV.
Forty of these civil parties have indicated that they wish to speak at the hearing and will be heard by the court from May 31.
Read alsoBrétigny derailment: the double standard of the judicial investigation
"This trial will be a painful experience, very traumatic (...) but an essential moment for the victims"
, explained to AFP Thierry Gomes, who will be heard by the court on Wednesday as president of the association " Mutual aid and defense of the victims of the Brétigny disaster” (EDVCB).
Bertrand Burman, lawyer for a dozen civil parties, for his part expressed the
"unease"
of the civil parties as the trial approached
"in the face of the responsibility disputed by the SNCF"
.
"We know that there is a failure that could have been prevented and treated before July 12,"
he said.
For Me Gérard Chemla, lawyer for the EDVCB association, Fenvac and 24 civil parties, the trial of
“a pot of earth against the railroad”
.
