Nightmare journey for the 200 passengers of the Nomad Le Havre-Rouen-Paris train on Monday.
Due to falling trees on the tracks, they remained stuck on the train for more than 8 hours, near Saint-Laurent-de-Brèvedent, between Le Havre and Bréauté, reports France Bleu Normandie.
The strong gusts of wind which hit Seine-Maritime on Monday caused the first tree to fall in the middle of the day on electrical installations in Saint-Laurent-Gainneville, on the line linking Le Havre and Paris.
Firefighters were able to free it in the middle of the afternoon, but a second tree fell a few hundred meters away.
Traffic was completely interrupted until the evening, which complicated the rescue of the Nomad train immobilized on the rails.
🚦#FlashInfoTraficNomadTrain 7:58 p.m.
Repairs end on track 1 and the resumption time remains at 8:00 p.m.
However, a new tree fell on the catenary track 2 (in the direction Le Havre - Paris)
The resumption time is postponed to 9:30 p.m.
https://t.co/fRTZK9QDIR
— SNCF NOMAD TRAIN (@train_nomad) February 26, 2024
On board this train was Hubert de La Batie, mayor of Sainte-Adresse (Seine-Maritime) and vice-president of the Normandy region, he was going to the Agricultural Show in Paris.
“We entered the train at 12:02 p.m., we left at 8:32 p.m.,” he told France Bleu Normandie.
Quickly, he described, “the electricity was cut off, passengers could not charge their phones, there was no heating and no toilets!”
»
The train finally towed around 8 p.m.
On his X account (formerly Twitter), he praised the calm of the passengers.
“A big congratulations to all the Normans who remained dignified, very little irritation,” he underlined.
However, after hours of waiting, two passengers ended up breaking a window to get out and left on foot, according to him.
After more than 8.5 hours spent on the train, we finally arrived at….
Tin hus.
We board the buses towards Le Havre.
A big congratulations to all the Normans who remained dignified, very little irritation except two adults who broke a window and left on foot.
— Hubert de La Batie (@HdeLaBatie) February 26, 2024
On social networks, others were annoyed by the long hours of waiting and the difficult conditions in which the passengers found themselves.
“My daughter has now been on the train for 6 hours without moving, without water or food.
Something absolutely has to be done.
She's dying of thirst, she's not feeling well, she only ate one sandwich this lunch.
This is going very badly.
It's urgent !!!
», thundered a mother on the SNCF Nomad Train X account.
@train_nomad my daughter has now been on the train for 6 hours without moving without water or food.
You ABSOLUTELY have to do something.
She's dying of thirst, she's not well, she only ate one sandwich this lunch.
This is going very badly.
It's urgent !!!!
— Derymacker (@DerymackerLaure) February 26, 2024
Once the tracks were cleared, around 8 p.m., the train was finally able to be towed by another train to Étainhus station (Seine-Maritime), where coaches were waiting for the passengers.
According to SNCF, traffic gradually resumed around 10 p.m.