The Annot derailment occurred on 8 February 2014 when a train travelling from

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

Digne-les-Bains Digne-les-Bains (; Occitan: ''Dinha dei Banhs''), or simply and historically Digne (''Dinha'' in the classical norm or ''Digno'' in the Mistralian norm), is the prefecture of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in the Provence-Alpes-Cô ...

on the Chemins de Fer de Provence was hit by a rock which fell down a mountain side. Both vehicles of the train were derailed, killing two people and injuring 20 others.

Accident

At 11:10

local time Local time is the time observed in a specific locality. There is no canonical definition. Originally it was mean solar time, but since the introduction of time zones it is generally the time as determined by the time zone in effect, with daylight s ...

(10:10 UTC) on 8 February 2014, the 09:25 passenger train travelling from

operated by the Chemins de Fer de Provence was derailed when it was struck by a rock which had fallen down a mountain and hit the train as it was passing. Two people were killed and 20 were injured. Both victims were travelling in the part of the train that was struck by the rock. The train was carrying 34 passengers in addition to the driver. The train involved was an AMP800

diesel multiple unit A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

. The accident occurred in a remote location between

Annot Annot (; oc, Anòt) is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Annotains'' or ''Annotaines'' The commune has been awar ...

and

Saint-Benoît, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Saint-Benoît (; oc, Sant Beneset) is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in southeastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department The following is a list of the 198 communes of the A ...

. Two

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

s were sent to the scene, as well as 110

firefighter A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...

s in 32 vehicles. Those not requiring medical attention were evacuated to

. Of the two victims, one was a 49-year-old Russian national and the other an 82-year-old French national, both female. Four people remained in hospital at least overnight.

Investigation

An investigation into the accident was begun by the

French Land Transport Accident Investigation Bureau The French Land Transport Accident Investigation Bureau (', abbreviated BEA-TT) is an agency of the French government formed in 2004 and charged with the investigation into accidents involving all forms of land transport, including railways, urban ...

(BEA-TT) and the

Institut de recherche criminelle de la gendarmerie nationale The Institut de recherche criminelle de la gendarmerie nationale (IRCGN) is the forensic science department of the French National Gendarmerie The National Gendarmerie (french: Gendarmerie nationale, ) is one of two national law enforcement fo ...

(IRCGN) on 9 February. The scene was scanned with lasers and a 3D computer generated recreation of the accident was made to assist with the investigation. The line was to remain closed whilst the investigation continued, with no firm date set for reopening. It was reported that the weather in the preceding days had been alternating between rain and snow, with the freeze-thaw effect possibly contributing to the cause of the rockfall. The two

train event recorder A train event recorder – also called On-Train Monitoring Recorder (OTMR), On-Train Data Recorder (OTDR), Event Recorder System (ERS), Event Recorder Unit (ERU), or simply Event Recorder (ER) – is a device that records data about the operatio ...

s were retrieved from the wreckage of the train on 18 February.

Aftermath

, the railway was still closed; Route nationale 202 (RN 202), which was below the railway, was also closed, as it had been since the derailment. This resulted in numerous and diverse transport problems in the small towns in the area. A mayors' meeting scheduled for 26 February at Dignes was to call for a quick RN 202 reopening.

Similar accidents

Other instances of trains actually being struck by falling rocks and being derailed include – *1 January 1883 – At Vriog,

Merionethshire , HQ= Dolgellau , Government= Merionethshire County Council (1889-1974) , Origin= , Status= , Start= 1284 , End= , Code= MER , CodeName= ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, the locomotive of a

Cambrian Railways The Cambrian Railways owned of track over a large area of mid Wales. The system was an amalgamation of a number of railways that were incorporated in 1864, 1865 and 1904. The Cambrian connected with two larger railways with connections to the ...

passenger train was struck by falling rocks and pushed into the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...

. Both engine crew were killed. The first carriage was derailed, but there were no injuries amongst the passengers. *4 March 1933 – At Vriog, the locomotive of a

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

freight train is struck by falling rocks and pushed into the Irish Sea. Both engine crew are killed. *13 August 2014 – At

Tiefencastel Tiefencastel ( rm, Casti) is a village and a former municipality in the district of Albula in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. On 1 January 2015 the former municipalities of Alvaschein, Mon, Stierva, Tiefencastel, Alvaneu, Brienz/Brin ...

, Switzerland, a passenger train was derailed by a landslide that struck the train. Eleven people were injured.

References

{{coord, 43.9583, N, 6.6773, E, source:wikidata, display=title 2014 in France Railway accidents in 2014 Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Derailments in France February 2014 events in France