David Montagné, edited by Yanis Darras 8:17 p.m., October 26, 2022

Almost ten years after the derailment of a train at Brétigny-sur-Orge station, the SNCF was ordered to pay a fine of nearly 300,000 euros.

"A drop of water" for the victims, while the company's lawyer denounces "a hypothesis deemed credible (...) transformed into judicial truth".

It is a tragedy that will remain in the history of the small town of Brétigny-sur-Orge, in Essonne.

Nine years ago, a train derailed in the station of the Ile-de-France commune, killing seven people and injuring hundreds of others.

This Wednesday, the court of Evry, in charge of the file, decided to condemn only the SNCF for homicides and involuntary injuries.

The company will have to pay 300,000 euros in fines.

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"It's a drop in the sea"

A financial condemnation which remains symbolic for Lauriane Welter, survivor of the accident.

The passenger was in car number 4, the most affected in the disaster.

"A sentence of 300,000 € for a company like the SNCF is a drop in the ocean in my eyes", regrets the young woman. 

"I know that it is the legislation that makes this fine will be financial, but I would have liked so much that we had more technical penalties than financial penalties", she continues at the microphone of Europe 1. "I would have calmed down knowing that they will give themselves the means to change things. Unfortunately, I am certain and convinced that there will be no more awareness than that". 

A hypothesis transformed into judicial truth for the SNCF lawyer

On the side of the SNCF, the judgment was received in a mixed way.

"No scientific truth emerges from this judgment", declares Maître Emmanuel Marsigny, the company's lawyer, who regrets that the court accepted the thesis of a lack of surveillance.

"You will understand that with regard to the problem and the stakes, the question arises as to whether it is possible to accept that a hypothesis deemed credible in relation to another, without the other being completely ruled out, be transformed into judicial truth", he confided to Europe 1. 

It remains to be seen whether, from now on, the SNCF will wish to appeal this court decision, or not.