The Versailles rail accident occurred on 8 May 1842 in the cutting between Meudon and Bellevue stations on the railway between Versailles and Paris. Following King Louis Philippe I's celebrations at the Palace of Versailles, a train returning to Paris derailed at Meudon, after the leading locomotive broke an axle, and the carriages behind piled into it and caught fire. The first French railway accident and the first in the world to cause multiple deaths, estimates of the fatalities range between 52 and 200 and include the explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville. It led to the abandonment in France of the practice of locking passengers in their carriages.
Events - Historical
Links: en.wikipedia.org
By: kkeps
