French rail firm says no new dangers detected after crash

PARIS: France’s SNCF state rail company said Wednesday that no more safety risks had been detected during a nationwide probe of its network after a derailment that killed six people this month.
“The checks have not detected any situations that would threaten safety,” Pierre Izard, the SNCF’s general manager for infrastructure, told a press conference. The SNCF carried out extensive checks of its rail switchpoints after the accident on July 12 at the Bretigny-sur-Orge station, about 25 km south of Paris.
The SNCF blamed the accident, which saw an intercity train derail as it sped through the station, crashing into the platform, on a connecting bar that had come loose at a rail switchpoint.
Izard said nearly 5,000 switchpoints had been checked since the accident.
The SNCF said its findings had been handed over to judicial and transport safety authorities, who are carrying out their own investigations into the accident.
SNCF chief Guillaume Pepy said it remained unclear how the connecting bar had come loose at the station.
“Every possibility is being considered,” he said.
The accident, which also left dozens injured, raised concerns about the state of France’s rail network, with some officials complaining that regional lines had suffered as funding focused on high-speed TGV lines.
President Francois Hollande said after the accident that France must do “much more” to maintain regional lines, vowing to make them a priority for investment.