Police and rail chiefs confirmed on Wednesday that the travel disruption that affected thousands of passengers on Christmas Eve on lines to the south-east of Paris came after a driver jumped from the cabin of his speeding train.
France’s rail operator SNCF reported on Tuesday evening an accident involving a person as the cause of several hours of delays on the high-speed tracks linking Paris and Lyon.
But after the body of a man was recovered a few kilometres from a train on the line, police investigators said the driver appeared to have jumped to his death from the moving train.
Fail-safe signals brought the train, which was carrying 400 people, to a halt in the middle of the track near Moisenay, some 60km from Paris.
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“The safety of the train’s passengers was not threatened at any time, nor was the safety of traffic, as the traffic management centre was immediately alerted automatically,” SNCF said.
Some 3,000 passengers were hit by the delays of up to five hours on Tuesday night, SNCF said.
Many passengers took to social media to complain.
“Christmas Eve is a bit ruined,” said one traveller. “Seven hours of travel instead of the planned two hours, on Christmas Eve, it’s original.”
SNCF said trains were expected to resume their normal service on Wednesday
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