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MEPs delayed in Strasbourg after an incident on their TGV

by AI | 11.Oct 2024 | Europe in brief AI

The high-speed train (TGV) that was supposed to bring many European parliamentarians back to Brussels on Thursday after the plenary session held this week in Strasbourg, suffered a breakdown before its departure.

This photo shows the new logo of the Eurostar group, a high-speed train operator, on an Eurostar train and a Thalys train at Brussels-Midi station, on January 24, 2023. (Photo: Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP)

The special train that was supposed to bring many European parliamentarians back to Brussels at the end of the plenary session held this week in Strasbourg encountered a breakdown on Thursday, and passengers were stranded for more than four hours at the station of the Alsatian capital.

The special TGV, which was supposed to leave Strasbourg at 2:57 PM, finally departed around 7:15 PM.

“At 2:45 PM, I saw an explosion in the locomotive of the TGV with a large cloud of smoke coming out,” said to AFP Emmanuel Foulon, a parliamentary assistant who is part of the “caravan” of elected officials shuttling between Brussels and Strasbourg one week a month.

“This train, transporting staff of the European Parliament, had 740 passengers. The passengers, all unharmed, were evacuated to the station hall,” said the firefighters.

In October 2023, a switching error sent the TGV of European parliamentarians to Disneyland, causing a 45-minute delay in arrival at Strasbourg. (October 10, 2024)