Paris Metro shutdown after fatal accident
One line of the Paris Metro was halted on Friday and two others were running a limited service after unions called for a walkout in the wake of a fatal accident on line 6.
Traffic on Line 6 was completed halted on Friday morning, while Line 5 and Line 9 was severe disruption after unions exercised the "droit de retrait" or right of withdrawal.
This is similar to a strike, but can be called immediately in response to issues with safety and well-being of staff, without having to give the legally required 48 hours notice.
In this case, the FO union called the walkout after the driver of a train was formally arrested over the death of a passenger on Line 6 over the weekend - after a woman reportedly got her coat caught in the door of the train and was dragged along the platform.
A police investigation was launched and the train driver was later taken into custody.
A statement from the union on Thursday evening said they: "Cannot tolerate that our colleague, who did his job, is treated like a criminal and that he spends the night in custody.
They added that: "A droit de retrait alert will be filed by the union's elected representatives of the health, safety and working conditions commission, because no driver should take the risk of spending a night in prison."
Operator RATP said on Friday that traffic was totally halted on Line 6 and there was no estimate on when services might resume. Lines 5 and 9 are severely disrupted as well, but the rest of the Metro network appears to be running as normal.
Four people have died on the Paris public transport network in April - a 14-year-old girl who fell onto the tracks of the RER B train at Melun; the woman who died at Bel-Air station on Line 6; and two people who died on Wednesday night after being hit by a train at the Gaîté station. Police said they had, "voluntarily gone on to the tracks".
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Traffic on Line 6 was completed halted on Friday morning, while Line 5 and Line 9 was severe disruption after unions exercised the "droit de retrait" or right of withdrawal.
This is similar to a strike, but can be called immediately in response to issues with safety and well-being of staff, without having to give the legally required 48 hours notice.
In this case, the FO union called the walkout after the driver of a train was formally arrested over the death of a passenger on Line 6 over the weekend - after a woman reportedly got her coat caught in the door of the train and was dragged along the platform.
A police investigation was launched and the train driver was later taken into custody.
A statement from the union on Thursday evening said they: "Cannot tolerate that our colleague, who did his job, is treated like a criminal and that he spends the night in custody.
They added that: "A droit de retrait alert will be filed by the union's elected representatives of the health, safety and working conditions commission, because no driver should take the risk of spending a night in prison."
Operator RATP said on Friday that traffic was totally halted on Line 6 and there was no estimate on when services might resume. Lines 5 and 9 are severely disrupted as well, but the rest of the Metro network appears to be running as normal.
Four people have died on the Paris public transport network in April - a 14-year-old girl who fell onto the tracks of the RER B train at Melun; the woman who died at Bel-Air station on Line 6; and two people who died on Wednesday night after being hit by a train at the Gaîté station. Police said they had, "voluntarily gone on to the tracks".
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