guaranteed rental | Paris train disaster highlights dark side of French railway dream Our guaranteed rental scheme is suitable for both existing landlords and potential landlords. If your property is accepted onto our scheme, you will not need to worry about rental income again while you are with us. While the TGV has won acclaim the rest of France has struggled with neglected, ageing and overcrowded local lines Railway employees work on the scene where the train derailed at Brétigny-sur-Orge, south of Paris. Photograph: Thibault Camus/AP guaranteed rental properties While investigators search for the cause of France's worst train disaster in 25 years, the government has vowed to improve the maintenance of its ageing rail network. But the derailment of a packed intercity train – which last week killed six and injured more than 100 – has left the country soul-searching about what used to be a point of national pride: its world-famous, high-tech railway system, which once put its European neighbours to shame. The accident at Brétigny-sur-Orge, south of Paris, has served to highlight what for years has been the dark side of the French railway dream: behind the famous, high-speed Train á Grande Vitesse (TGV) France struggled with neglected, ageing, overcrowded local lines starved of funds as the fast lines soaked up state investment. While the TGV sparkled, the rest of the network crumbled. Like the Potters Bar derailment in Hertfordshire in 2002, which killed seven and injured 70, the nation is united in grief and outrage, demanding to know the truth. The shock and confusion have been exacerbated by the circumstances of what France calls "the catastrophe". It was afternoon rush hour on one of the busiest holiday getaway days of the year, the Friday before Bastille day weekend. At a suburban station, through which 18,000 passengers a day pass, the platform was heaving with workers and holidaymakers. Intercity trains from Paris regularly thunder through the station non-stop, heading south at high speed. But this time, the intercity bound for Limoges derailed at 85mph: four carriages slid off the tracks, one careering into the platform. Witnesses described a deafening noise like an earthquake; the scene was "an apocalypse", said one local politician; others called it a warzone. The platform clock is still frozen at just after 5:10, the moment of impact. Of the six people killed, four had been standing on the platform: an elderly couple in their 80s; a 23-year-old assistant at the local high school and a 19-year-old budding local footballer from Guadeloupe. In the carriages, two women aged 27 and 64 died. Two more remain in a critical condition. "I will never wait on a train platform again," said Benedicte, 19, a medicine student, whose friend was one of those killed. She had left him on the platform and walked down the steps when she heard "this massive boom". She said: "I still can't accept he's dead, it's as if he made it home and is waiting there." If she has to use a train now, she cowers by the ticket office and runs up to the platform at the last minute. "I never thought this could happen, particularly not in France; everyone trusts French trains," said Huguette Thetiot, a Paris accountant who commutes from Brétigny each day. If Potters Bar was marked by a nine-year struggle for truth and justice, the French state railway immediately announced that it considered itself "responsible" for the Brétigny disaster. After its president, Guillaume Pepy, wept on TV, the company held a series of swift press conferences, announcing that the derailment was caused by a connecting bar that came loose at a rail switch. Sabotage was said to be unlikely – another train used the same tracks half an hour before without a problem – although not yet ruled out. But several railway unions expressed concern and scepticism at what they warned was an over-speedy, PR-managed verdict on behalf of state rail. Three investigations are under way – one criminal. It remains to be seen whether the faulty connecting bar was down to technical faults, ageing equipment or maintenance failures – possibly by private contractors – all of which would cause a scandal. Meanwhile, anger at France's two-tier railway system is mounting. For years, a series of reports has sounded the alarm about the chronic underinvestment in France's regular rail lines, described as the "poor cousin" of the high-speed links launched to great fanfare in 1981. guaranteed rental properties In more than 30 years, over 1.7 billion passengers have travelled on France's well maintained high-speed trains – which link cities such as Lyon, Avignon and Marseille to Paris – without a single death or injury. But the majority of French travellers still have to use regular lines. High-speed trains represent less than 20% of travellers and only 1,900km of a total of around 30,000km of track. * guaranteed rental from 3Let call 020 8694 8098* In 2005, a report by the École Polytechnique de Lausanne warned that France's regular, non-high-speed train lines were so degraded that 60% of them would be unusable in 2025. And in 2010, the state auditor warned that 20 years of underinvestment in the packed local train lines of the wider Paris region was "above all" because the state had been prioritising high-speed trains. The current transport minister, Frédéric Cuvillier, has warned: "The situation is severe, with the deterioration in recent years of traditional lines because of a lack of resources." One railway passenger association denounced what it called "rust-bucket trains". Even before last week's crash, the Socialist government had signalled the end of an era by putting the brakes on ambitious TGV expansion plans, which would have almost doubled the high-speed rail network over the next two decades. Instead, they said investment must be channelled to other lines. Ten prestige new projects vaunted by the former president Nicolas Sarkozy, including fast lines to Normandy and Spain, were postponed. The prime minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, said it had been a lie to suggest to the French public that the cash-strapped French state could afford these staggering new TGV projects. After the derailment, François Hollande said he had already made the maintenance of regular lines a "priority". With 14,000 trains running each day in France, the derailment risks shaking the public's relationship with the state rail company, SNCF, which is no stranger to being sued by unsatisfied customers. Last year, a legal secretary in Lyon won €1,500(£1,300) compensation after repeated rail delays resulted in her losing her job for arriving late to work. Previously, SNCF was made to pay €800 damages after a seven-hour delay on the Paris-Lyon line cost a passenger a day's work. On overcrowded suburban Paris RER lines, where 1,000 people regularly cram into commuter trains, passengers have long complained of cancellations, delays and stress. "In the mornings on the Paris-bound platforms, you see massive crowds and people going mad," sighed Daniel Valade, 53, who worked in logistics on an industrial estate outside Brétigny. At the butcher's shop, Sandra Patin was preparing the day's cutlets. She lives opposite the station and heard the derailment. "The only way we can trust French trains again is if we get the full truth of what really happened here," she said. • This article was amended on 17 July 2013. An out of date map of France's TGV network was removed View the original article here Our rent guarantee scheme provides you with between 1 to 5 years worth of guaranteed rental income. What’s more, there’s no catch and no fees involved. Contact Guaranteed Rental today on 020 8694 8098 to find out more.
