Héricy english summary

On Monday 8 November 2021, back to school day, shortly before 8 a.m. and in foggy weather, an out-of-service passenger train traveling from Paris Gare de Lyon towards Montereau-Fault-Yonne hit a pedestrian on the level crossing for pedestrians n° 27a (PN n° 27a) in Héricy in Seine-et-Marne.

The train, following an emergency brake, stopped at Héricy station, 430 m after PN n° 27a.
The pedestrian was injured, his vital prognosis was not engaged and he was released from the hospital the day after the accident.
The train driver was not physically injured. The train suffered only minimal damage.

The direct cause of this accident is the crossing of the railway tracks by the pedestrian on the level crossing without having perceived the imminent arrival of the train.

The BEA-TT investigation revealed that various factors may have contributed to this situation :
- the pedestrian’s attention has probably been mainly on his mobile phone, thus reducing his alertness ;
- weather conditions reduced visibility on the arriving train ;
- this train was not regularly present at this time and place ;
- a preceding train, indentified by the pedestrian, whistled several times. The sound alerts from the second train could have been interpreted by the pedestrian as coming from the first one.
- a hedge of plants limited the gathering of information on the presence of a train for a pedestrian approaching this level crossing.
- no audible or visual signal warned pedestrians of the imminent arrival of rail traffic.

No element in the conduct of the train is involved in the occurrence of this accident.
At the time of the events, the equipment of PN n° 27a complied with the regulations.

The BEA-TT sets as a priority orientation to remove the PN n° 27a, taking into account the existence of uneven crossings nearby.
If this level crossing is maintained by a decision of the mayor of the city, the safety guidelines aim to define the criteria for assessing the risk and the levels of equipment for level crossings in this category.
The objective is to increase the ability of pedestrians to assess the arrival of a train, so that they can decide in full knowledge to start crossing the railway tracks.

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