Monday 11th November, bank holiday in France, it’s about 4.00pm just next to fashionable Cannes on the French cote d’Azur…Suddenly a wing flies loose from the nearby beach and lands wrapped round a ‘catenaire’ (one of the electric supply lines for the main railway line) above the railway lines themselves!!!

Instantly the two tracks are automatically neutralised, the line closed and a technical team hastily called in,result : Two hours of total shutdown for the line!!!

Everybody’s been wondering for a while about the possibility of a ban following some fatal accident, maybe this in fact will turn out to be the incident that brings this particular sword of Damocles down on the sport…

Happily, the miscreant (who, let’s face it, screwed up badly letting his wing go and by being an inexperienced flier in inappropriate conditions by all accounts) at least made every effort to recover the situation…

He went straight round to the SNCF to report himself responsible and the matter should now be settled amicably between the respective insurance companies…

“The culprit and facts of the case are all known to us and now further action will be taken” confirmed SNCF… Very nice too considering it was they who had to explain the 41 combined hours of delays to irate passengers, not to mention sort out the mess of trains all in the wrong places all along the Marseille – Ventimiglia line!!!

Airports, railway lines, motorways, main roads : careful everyone, the sword is hanging by a single thread…

Philou