The French railway company SNCF was sentenced to a fine of 400,000 euros by the Paris criminal court on Thursday for its role in a fatal accident involving a TGV in 2015. 11 people were killed and 42 injured in an incident in Eckwersheim in Alsace.
In addition to the SNCF, five of the six other suspects were also convicted of unintentional manslaughter and unintentional injury due to negligence, among other things.
The train that was conducting a test run braked too late at the end of the high-speed line just before Strasbourg and derailed on November 14, 2015. The train, which was carrying railway workers, technicians and guests, partially collapsed into the Rhine-Marne Canal. It was the worst accident involving a TGV in France since the inception of the high-speed line more than 40 years ago.
The driver of the derailed TGV received a suspended prison sentence of seven months. The judge gave the person responsible for indicating braking points to the driver a suspended prison sentence of fifteen months.