Toulouse (Haute-Garonne): sabotage at the metro construction site
Two cranes threaten to collapse on the Minimes metro worksite in Toulouse, act of vandalism suspected
La Dépêche/France 3, June 2, 2023
Hot news in Toulouse in the Raisin district along the Canal between Les Minimes and Faubourg-Bonnefoy. Around 3 a.m. on Friday June 2, some fifteen firefighters responded to a crane fire on avenue François Collignon. The site was the third metro line.
The fire was quickly brought under control, but the structure of the crane was threatened by the fire. The second crane had hydraulic leaks on its cylinders. Both of which jeopardized the balance of both machines. The police and experts have arrived and the area has been neutralized: vehicles can no longer circulate on avenue François Collignon and chemin du Raisin. A security perimeter has been set up with barriers.
These construction cranes are not very high, around ten meters, but their fall could have serious consequences. According to initial reports, “it was an act of vandalism”, announced Jean-François Lacroux, Managing Director of Tisséo Ingenierie, on France Bleu Occitanie radio this Friday morning. “There is still a risk of collapse, which is why the site has been secured and the road closed”.
Work on Toulouse’s third metro line is scheduled to continue until 2028. Line C will link two of the metropolis’s major population centers, Colomiers and Labège, while crossing the Pink City. It will serve business parks, Airbus and the Matabiau train station.
Sabotage on a Toulouse construction site: who’s after the 3rd metro line?
La Dépêche, June 2, 2023
The fire that damaged a crane during the night of Thursday June 1 to Friday June 2 on the site of the future 3rd metro line, at 50 avenue François-Collignon, near boulevard des Minimes in Toulouse, was caused by a malicious act. According to the initial findings of Police Nationale investigators at the scene, the sabotage appears to have been genuine: the engine of another machine and a hydraulic part were also set on fire.
An investigation has been opened and entrusted to the Toulouse Criminal Investigation Department. The company involved, part of the Demathieu, Bard & Implenia consortium, which won this contract, has lodged a complaint, according to Tisséo, which assures us that the incident will have no impact on the work schedule. The damaged crane is due to be removed on Monday June 5, while traffic, which reopened on Friday afternoon June 2 on chemin du Raisin, will be reopened on Monday June 5 on avenue François-Collignon.
Tisséo points out that the contract in question was not contested, and that no threats have been made to date concerning this site or the metro works. Who has a grudge against the metro, or against the companies responsible for the work in question? That’s what the Criminal Investigation Department will have to figure out.
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