The Paris-Nice TGV 6177 remained immobilized in a tunnel in Val-de-Marne on Friday, June 26, during a heat wave. A technical fault deprived some cars of air conditioning. Several passengers fell ill before arriving in Nice nearly six hours late.
The journey of the Paris-Nice TGV 6177 turned into a long wait for nearly 400 travelers on Friday, June 26. Departing from Paris with a 1 hour 10 minute delay due to a technical problem, the train came to a halt about thirty minutes after departure in a tunnel located near Limeil-Brévannes, in Val-de-Marne.
The stoppage lasted nearly an hour. Electricity was cut off in part of the train. Some cars found themselves without air conditioning, while France was experiencing a heat wave.
“It was a nightmare. There were panic attacks in the cars, no air, no water,” testified a passenger to BFMTV.
Travelers used fans, spray bottles and water bottles distributed on board to try to cope with the heat. Several accounts mention water supplies that were quickly depleted.
A train car without air conditioning and several cases of illness
The temperature rose in the cars without air conditioning. According to several accounts, the bar car was converted into a makeshift infirmary to care for passengers in distress.
“I was in the car that had air conditioning, but there was one that didn’t and it was 48°C there and people fell ill,” a passenger told BFMTV.
The SNCF indicated that a technical fault was at the origin of the incident. The TGV eventually turned back toward Paris-Gare-de-Lyon. Passengers then boarded another train to reach the Côte d’Azur.
“We went back to Paris, we changed trains and we did another six hours of travel,” explained a passenger. Another traveler noted that meal boxes had been distributed on the second train, due to insufficient food in the bar car of the first train.
The TGV finally arrived in Nice around one o’clock in the morning. The SNCF estimated the final delay at approximately five hours and forty minutes.
A few days before this incident, the chief executive officer of the SNCF, Jean Castex, had recommended that the most vulnerable people avoid traveling by train during heat waves. The railway company had also announced free exchanges and cancellations of TGV and Ouigo tickets during this period.
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