Toulouse: when the cold makes transport skid
Trains, trams and even the metro are impacted by the weather. The current cold spell results in frost on the catenaries, sometimes slowing down trains and circular trams. The Toulouse metro was also the victim of a water pipe rupture due to the cold. Explanations.
Wednesday, January 12, several train movements were still canceled due to frost, launches the CGT Cheminots in a press release, which is surprised: “the main mission of the SNCF is to make trains circular on the entire network by all weather except in cases of force majeure such as storms for example.
A “completely frosty” winter
The management of SNCF Réseau explains: “This winter, the phenomenon of delivery is exceptional in its duration, its intensity and its geographical extent in Occitania”. Several electrified lines in the region are affected, mainly in Comminges, on the Toulouse-Tarbes line: “trains were deactivated or removed on this line on Wednesday January 12”, indicates the railway management company. But the lines Toulouse-Brive or towards Gers and Ariège are also exposed. The CGT-Cheminots union accuses: “SNCF Réseau has chosen to invest in a chemical treatment of the catenary which would protect it from frost. Millions of euros invoiced which do not resolve the deletions of trains. “allowing the book to be removed from the catenary as it passes”.
“We use these two means which work, retorts SNCF Réseau, the scraping of the catenaries by scraper trains and, for several weeks in Occitania, the spraying of an anti-icing product”. SNCF Réseau adds: “With the risk persisting these days, several scraper trains, at least three, have been in service on the most exposed lines.
The risk of weather spies
The phenomenon of giving which is deposited on the catenaries in the early morning is well known to Toulouse tram users. “A set of weather factors is taken into account: the cold, will it freeze this morning and at what time? but also the wind and the humidity, explains Tisséo Voyageurs, depending on whether or not we decide to running an oar all night that scrapes the catenary and prevents frost from settling in. The last incident of this nature, in December 2021, occurred because the indicated indicated that it would freeze around 6 a.m. morning, or after the first trams were put into service at 5.30 a.m. But alas, it froze at 4 a.m. that day and the tram could not start”. Isn’t the weather an exact science?
