A collision between a TGV high-speed train and a lorry on Tuesday morning at a level crossing in Pas-de-Calais, northern France, killed the train driver, and left two people in critical condition and 11 with minor injuries, local authorities said.
The lorry driver has been taken into custody, AFP has learnt from a judicial source. The lorry was carrying military equipment, according to a spokesperson for the local prefecture.
An earlier provisional toll had put the number of injured at 27.
On Tuesday morning, large numbers of rescue workers and technical teams were deployed around the scene of the accident, AFP journalists observed, noting that the front of the train was badly damaged.
At around 07:00, the TGV travelling from Dunkirk to Paris, with 243 people on board, collided with a lorry at a level crossing in the town of Bully-les-Mines, between Béthune and Lens, the Pas-de-Calais prefecture said in a statement.
Fabien Villedieu, federal secretary of the SUD Rail union, told AFP that the vehicle involved in the accident “was not a truck that looked like an army truck, of the camouflage type”.
French transport Minister Philippe Tabarot announced on X that he was heading to the scene with Jean Castex, the CEO of the SNCF, France’s national rail company. A press conference was scheduled for 12:00 at the victim reception centre, according to the prefecture.
88 firefighters
Rail traffic is suspended until Tuesday evening between Béthune and Lens, the rail company posted on social media.
On the Lille-Béthune, Lille-Lens and Lille-Douai routes, services are resuming “very gradually” with “significant delays”, according to the same source.
According to the prefecture, 88 firefighters have been mobilised, along with six Samu response staff, ten police officers and 40 civil protection staff and volunteers.
On 25 March, a TER train collided with a lorry at a level crossing in Saint-Raphaël (Var), killing the lorry driver, aged 60. And in March 2025, two soldiers died after their vehicle was struck by a TER train at a level crossing near Arras (Pas-de-Calais).
(This article was translated from French using AI. Adaptation by Alex Stevensson)