An 86-year-old motorist was seriously injured; this Wednesday, July 15, at a level crossing during a collision with the Pignes train which connects Nice to Digne-les-Bains (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence). The accident occurred at Mure-Argens at a level crossing materialized by a stop sign but not by automatic barriers, according to a source close to the investigation.
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An investigation was opened by the Digne-les-Bains prosecution and entrusted to the gendarmerie of Colmars-les-Alpes, supported by the Research Brigade (BR) of Castellane. It will have to determine in particular if the motorist respected this stop before the passage of the train, which transported ten travelers and two personnel who were not injured. The octogenarian was helicoptered to the hospital in Digne-les-Bains with significant head trauma, according to the emergency services.
The train had resumed traffic for 2 days
Operated by the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, this little tourist train had just reopened on Monday between Nice and Saint-André-les-Alpes after work following the bad weather in autumn. Traffic remains interrupted between Saint-André-les-Alpes and Moriez after the partial collapse of a railway tunnel in which a 54-year-old worker lost his life in February 2019. The connection is made by coach to Digne.
Carrying 430,000 passengers per year, especially in urban areas in the agglomeration of Nice and the Var plain, this train, which connects Nice to Digne in more than three hours, is one of the most original in France. 151 km long, using 25 tunnels, thirty bridges and viaducts on the mountainside, its route is very popular with tourists.
