French rail accident
 

Per the following article, I think this accident is going to raise a lot of questions in France about whether they are neglecting the conventional rail lines at the expense of the TGV.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles...#r=nav-r-story

I'm not surprised that Business Week would publish its usual Francophobic take on events. First of all, absolutely everybody in France knows that the traditional rail services have been "neglected." Very few of us have family and friends only on TGV lines, so we are well aware of the difference in quality when we want to take the old train lines. Would we want nice new rail lines and trains for the same fare and without raising taxes? Of course we would. Is it going to happen? Nobody is that naive. Nevertheless, the fact that the last major accident was 25 years ago is something that many other countries wish they could say -- the rail lines are in far better condition than in countries like the United States or Great Britain, but I note that the article did not bother to mention whether France was better or worse than other countries in rail safety. I suspect that the statistics would make the article fall apart. I am also intrigued by the information that the RER is "crumbling." What does this even mean? Yes, we find some of the trains to be quite bad, but only in comparison to the brand new trains that operate on certain other lines. Believe me, I find the worst RER trains in Paris to be better than most trains that I have taken in other countries.

I would very much like to see a Business Week article comparing the rail services in the United States to those in France.

I ran across this comparison online, Ker. Does not give sources, or discuss methodology much, but it does show that the U.S. safety record is not so hot compared to the EU records. Don't know how the latest deaths would affect the statistics, but my guess is not much.

http://pedestrianobservations.wordpr...e-rail-safety/

"I would very much like to see a Business Week article comparing the rail services in the United States to those in France."

Good luck, Kerouac. :-) Fair and balanced doesn't sell in the States -- especially when the subject is France.

I would still feel safer on any public transportation there, especially as opposed to where I am now -- Atlanta.

More to the point is that there will be a lot of re-routing, which will affect people trying to get south on that line.

"I would very much like to see a Business Week article comparing the rail services in the United States to those in France"

Clearly being American, you're incapable of understanding the concept of honest criticism. Being French, you can't understand criticism of anything French without childishly smelling an Anglo-Saxon conspiracy.

It's irrelevant that French railway lines are safer than American ones - and than Germany's. They're not as safe as any Francophile would want them to be. Without a proper enquiry, we don't know why, but so far no-one has seriously undermined the prevailing belief (in France every bit as much as anywhere else)that France's conventional railway lines haven't been adequately maintained.

Attacking the messenger who's pointing this out is the standard French technique for ducking reality.

There are people who will defend austerity or nationalism at all costs, even the deaths of other people.

There is a difference between "quality" and "safe." Every passenger anywhere in the world has the right to demand and expect a train for which they have bought a ticket to be operated safely even if they opted for a cheaper older train route.

I am appalled people would attempt to make excuses for this event. It shouldn't have happened. It must not happen again, whatever it costs to fix it. Or take the line out of service.

Did you actually read the article, flanneruk?

Does this sound like serious journalism to you?

<i>Passengers using the Auber station dodge chunks of falling plaster and buckets that catch water which drips through the ceiling on rainy days.</i>

FWIW, I was in the Auber RER station on a rather rainy day last month and did not see any rain buckets. Of course, it is a rather large station, and I might not have been in the part with the leaks.

I cannot speak to safety (although none of our train trips involved crashes), but our numerous TGV, local SNCF, and RER travels were comfortable and on-time, except for one RER trip from CDG in May when there was a "disturbance" that delayed all traffic and one "greve-delayed" trip from Aix to Nice many years ago.

I've been in Auber many times and never noticed that. Perhaps the journalist saw some pictures of the 1910 flood and is confused. ;-)