Lille (AFP)
The labor inspectorate pointed out the direction of SNCF mobilités in the Hauts-de-France to take the "necessary measures of work organization" so that a driver, alone aboard a TER, is no longer exposed to risks, according to a letter consulted Thursday by AFP.
The SNCF has challenged this formal notice with the Regional Directorate for Enterprises, Competition, Labor and Employment (Directte), stating that "all traffic remains in compliance with the rules of railway operation".
In the letter sent to the regional management, revealed by Mediapart, the labor inspectorate considers that "in the current circumstances, with the risk of failure of the SAR (radio alarm system), in case of frontal impact and in the waiting for additional equipment, the provisions of the labor code are not respected when the driver is the only agent on board the train ".
It answers "the right of alert for serious and imminent danger" that had invoked the railwaymen, two days after an accident of TER occurred in the Ardennes at the end of October. The train had struck an exceptional convoy on a crossing, 11 people being injured, including the driver, the only officer on board.
In the Hauts-de-France, the Paris-Beauvais line is the only TER link without a controller on board, ie about 150 trains per month. The daily regional traffic is 1,300 TER.
According to the labor inspector, "in the event of a frontal impact, the sound and light alarm device may be out of order".
"If the driver is alone on board, he must ensure the + obstacle cover + with the apparatus, abandoning during this procedure the train and the passengers (...) The presence of an ASCT (agent of the commercial service of the trains) he himself, empowered by this procedure, singularly relieves the mental load and the stress of the driver already shocked by the accident, "he adds.
The cascading exercise of withdrawal rights, two days after the collision, had led to major traffic disruptions throughout France.
The government announced at the beginning of November that the SNCF would not finally seize justice on the social movement of railway workers.
© 2019 AFP