105-604: The Saverne Tunnel ( French : Tunnel de Saverne ), also known as the Ernolsheim-lès-Saverne Tunnel ( French : Tunnel d'Ernolsheim-lès-Saverne ), is a twin-bore 4-kilometre-long (2.5 mi), high-speed rail tunnel in western Bas-Rhin , France . It carries the LGV Est line of France's TGV high-speed rail network through the narrowest part of the Vosges mountain range, beneath Mont Saint-Michel and adjacent to
210-720: A French official to teachers in the department of Finistère , in western Brittany, included the following: "And remember, Gents: you were given your position in order to kill the Breton language". The prefect of Basses-Pyrénées in the French Basque Country wrote in 1846: "Our schools in the Basque Country are particularly meant to replace the Basque language with French..." Students were taught that their ancestral languages were inferior and they should be ashamed of them; this process
315-431: A comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages". In the article, Weber ranked French as, after English, the second-most influential language of the world, ahead of Spanish. His criteria were the numbers of native speakers, the number of secondary speakers (especially high for French among fellow world languages), the number of countries using the language and their respective populations,
420-416: A factor in the late braking. SNCF began disciplinary proceedings and take punitive measures against employees responsible for, among other things, the "reckless presence" of children on the test train, presence of seven people in the cab, the lack of rigor in creating lists of those onboard and controlling access to the train, and "without doubt" the human errors in the cab. SNCF held a minute of silence for
525-543: A foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050. French is the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either official or foreign languages). French is increasingly being spoken as a native language in Francophone Africa, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and
630-428: A maximum speed of 352 km/h (219 mph) on sections where the speed limit was 320 km/h (200 mph). As the train approached the flying junction in the commune of Vendenheim, it should have slowed from 352 to 176 km/h (219 to 109 mph) before reaching Kilometer Point (KP) 403.809, where the speed limit was 160 km/h (99 mph). As the track begins a long, right-hand curve into
735-458: A month ahead of schedule on 19 June 2012. For the first bore, 1932 rings were installed, using 15,456 precast concrete lining segments (8 per ring). The TBM excavated 307,000 cubic metres (10,800,000 cu ft) of earth at an average speed of 20 m (66 ft) per day. Excavation of the second bore began on 26 September 2012 and finished on 25 February 2013. The 730,000 m (26,000,000 cu ft) of earth excavated during tunneling
840-688: A period of prosperity and prominence among European nations. Richelieu established the Académie française to protect the French language. By the early 1800s, Parisian French had become the primary language of the aristocracy in France. Near the beginning of the 19th century, the French government began to pursue policies with the end goal of eradicating the many minorities and regional languages ( patois ) spoken in France. This began in 1794 with Henri Grégoire 's "Report on
945-494: A relic of the old nominal case system of Latin longer than most other Romance languages (with the notable exception of Romanian which still currently maintains a case distinction), differentiating between an oblique case and a nominative case. The phonology was characterized by heavy syllabic stress, which led to the emergence of various complicated diphthongs such as -eau which would later be leveled to monophthongs. The earliest evidence of what became Old French can be seen in
1050-573: A second language. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as a working language along with English and German ; in some institutions, French is the sole working language (e.g. at the Court of Justice of the European Union ). French is also the 16th most natively spoken language in the world, the sixth most spoken language by total number of speakers , and
1155-513: A second language. However it has also become a native language in a number of urban areas, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and the Democratic Republic of the Congo . In some North African countries, though not having official status, it is also a first language among some upper classes of the population alongside indigenous languages, but only
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#17330855321381260-897: A second one among the general population. In 2015, approximately 40% of the Francophone population (including L2 and partial speakers) lived in Europe, 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania. French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union . Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as
1365-536: A variant of Canadian French , is spoken in parts of New England . Missouri French was historically spoken in Missouri and Illinois (formerly known as Upper Louisiana ), but is nearly extinct today. French also survived in isolated pockets along the Gulf Coast of what was previously French Lower Louisiana , such as Mon Louis Island , Alabama and DeLisle, Mississippi (the latter only being discovered by linguists in
1470-564: A €184.3 million design-build contract for Lot 47 to a consortium of 13 companies, led by Dodin Campenon-Bernard [ fr ] . The Saverne Tunnel was built by Spie Batignolles and Dodin Campenon-Bernard, at a cost of approximately €200 million. The two bores of the Saverne Tunnel were excavated with a 110 m (360 ft), 2,200-tonne (2,400-ton) tunnel boring machine (TBM), manufactured by Herrenknecht . The TBM
1575-436: Is 4,200 m (13,800 ft) in length and consists of two bores, each carrying one rail line flanked by a maintenance walkway and an emergency evacuation walkway. The two bores are connected every 500 m (1,600 ft) by an interconnecting passage. The tunnel has been built for a maximum speed of 350 kilometres per hour (220 mph)—320 km/h (200 mph) in commercial operation. It will be remotely monitored from
1680-437: Is 95%, and in the French collectivity of Wallis and Futuna , it is 84%. In French Polynesia and to a lesser extent Wallis and Futuna, where oral and written knowledge of the French language has become almost universal (95% and 84% respectively), French increasingly tends to displace the native Polynesian languages as the language most spoken at home. In French Polynesia, the percentage of the population who reported that French
1785-467: Is a widespread second language among the Lebanese people , and is taught in many schools along with Arabic and English. French is used on Lebanese pound banknotes, on road signs, on Lebanese license plates , and on official buildings (alongside Arabic). Today, French and English are secondary languages of Lebanon , with about 40% of the population being Francophone and 40% Anglophone. The use of English
1890-484: Is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the Red Cross (alongside English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian), Amnesty International (alongside 32 other languages of which English is the most used, followed by Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian), Médecins sans Frontières (used alongside English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic), and Médecins du Monde (used alongside English). Given
1995-430: Is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. French has a long history as an international language of literature and scientific standards and is a primary or second language of many international organisations including
2100-456: Is an official language in 27 countries , as well as one of the most geographically widespread languages in the world, with about 50 countries and territories having it as a de jure or de facto official, administrative, or cultural language. Most of these countries are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 54 member states which share
2205-628: Is enacted only in New Brunswick, where about one third of the population is Francophone. French is also an official language of all of the territories ( Northwest Territories , Nunavut , and Yukon ). Out of the three, Yukon has the most French speakers, making up just under 4% of the population. Furthermore, while French is not an official language in Ontario , the French Language Services Act ensures that provincial services are available in
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#17330855321382310-495: Is growing in the business and media environment. Out of about 900,000 students, about 500,000 are enrolled in Francophone schools, public or private, in which the teaching of mathematics and scientific subjects is provided in French. Actual usage of French varies depending on the region and social status. One-third of high school students educated in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking institutions. English
2415-404: Is known as Old French. The period of Old French spanned between the 8th and 14th centuries. Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. For example, Old French made use of different possible word orders just as Latin did because it had a case system that retained the difference between nominative subjects and oblique non-subjects . The period is marked by a heavy superstrate influence from
2520-462: Is often considered to be a useful skill by business owners in the United Kingdom; a 2014 study found that 50% of British managers considered French to be a valuable asset for their business, thus ranking French as the most sought-after foreign language there, ahead of German (49%) and Spanish (44%). MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a foreign language in
2625-775: Is one of the official languages of such major international and regional courts, tribunals, and dispute-settlement bodies as the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights , the Caribbean Court of Justice , the Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States , the Inter-American Court of Human Rights , the International Court of Justice , the International Criminal Tribunal for
2730-562: Is taught in universities around the world, and is one of the world's most influential languages because of its wide use in the worlds of journalism, jurisprudence , education, and diplomacy. In diplomacy, French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (and one of the UN Secretariat 's only two working languages ), one of twenty official and three procedural languages of the European Union , an official language of NATO ,
2835-538: Is the language of business and communication, with French being an element of social distinction, chosen for its emotional value. French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu , where 31% of the population was estimated to speak it in 2023. In the French special collectivity of New Caledonia , 97% of the population can speak, read and write French while in French Polynesia this figure
2940-479: Is the native language of about 23% of the Swiss population, and is spoken by 50% of the population. Along with Luxembourgish and German, French is one of the three official languages of Luxembourg , where it is generally the preferred language of business as well as of the different public administrations. It is also the official language of Monaco . At a regional level, French is acknowledged as an official language in
3045-492: Is the second-most spoken language (after English) in the states of Maine and New Hampshire . In Louisiana , it is tied with Spanish for second-most spoken if Louisiana French and all creoles such as Haitian are included. French is the third most spoken language (after English and Spanish) in the states of Connecticut , Rhode Island , and New Hampshire . Louisiana is home to many distinct French dialects, collectively known as Louisiana French . New England French , essentially
3150-424: Is the sole official language in the province of Quebec , where some 80% of the population speak it as a native language and 95% are capable of conducting a conversation in it. Quebec is also home to the city of Montreal , which is the world's fourth-largest French-speaking city, by number of first language speakers. New Brunswick and Manitoba are the only officially bilingual provinces, though full bilingualism
3255-738: The Aosta Valley region of Italy where it is the first language of approximately 50% of the population, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands . It is also spoken in Andorra and is the main language after Catalan in El Pas de la Casa . The language is taught as the primary second language in the German state of Saarland , with French being taught from pre-school and over 43% of citizens being able to speak French. The majority of
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3360-459: The Aosta Valley region of Italy; and various communities elsewhere. French is estimated to have about 310 million speakers, of which about 80 million are native speakers. According to the OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak the language" as of 2022, without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses. In Francophone Africa, it is spoken mainly as
3465-539: The Democratic Republic of Congo . There is not a single African French , but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages . Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth. It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years. Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries, but written forms of
3570-485: The European Union , French was the dominant language within all institutions until the 1990s. After several enlargements of the EU (1995, 2004), French significantly lost ground in favour of English, which is more widely spoken and taught in most EU countries. French currently remains one of the three working languages, or "procedural languages", of the EU, along with English and German. It is the second-most widely used language within EU institutions after English, but remains
3675-547: The Francien dialect is one that not only continued but also thrived during the Middle French period (14th–17th centuries). Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect. Grammatically, during the period of Middle French, noun declensions were lost and there began to be standardized rules. Robert Estienne published the first Latin-French dictionary, which included information about phonetics, etymology, and grammar. Politically,
3780-718: The Indo-European family . Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . French evolved from Gallo-Romance , the Latin spoken in Gaul , and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl —languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French ( Francien ) largely supplanted. French
3885-820: The International Olympic Committee , the Council of Europe , the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , Organization of American States (alongside Spanish, Portuguese and English), the Eurovision Song Contest , one of eighteen official languages of the European Space Agency , World Trade Organization and the least used of the three official languages in the North American Free Trade Agreement countries. It
3990-609: The Oaths of Strasbourg and the Sequence of Saint Eulalia , while Old French literature began to be produced in the eleventh century, with major early works often focusing on the lives of saints (such as the Vie de Saint Alexis ), or wars and royal courts, notably including the Chanson de Roland , epic cycles focused on King Arthur and his court , as well as a cycle focused on William of Orange . It
4095-533: The Saverne Pass . The tunnel consists of two bores, containing one rail track each, that are connected by passageways every 500 metres (1,600 ft). The LGV Est crosses the 270 m (890 ft) Haspelbaechel viaduct near the western end of the tunnel. The tunnel was excavated by a tunnel boring machine between November 2011 and February 2013. Civil engineering work on the tunnel ended in April 2014 and it opened with
4200-951: The United Nations , the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization , the World Trade Organization , the International Olympic Committee , the General Conference on Weights and Measures , and the International Committee of the Red Cross . French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin ) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France. The language's early forms include Old French and Middle French . Due to Roman rule, Latin
4305-462: The 106km second phase, from Baudrecourt to Vendenheim , near Strasbourg, began in 2010. The final weld of rails on the second phase occurred in March 2015, marking the completion of the line, although some work remained. At the time of the derailment, the line was scheduled to open for commercial service on 3 April 2016, following commissioning trials and training for operators. The scheduled tests for
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4410-502: The 1990s) but these varieties are severely endangered or presumed extinct. French is one of two official languages in Haiti alongside Haitian Creole . It is the principal language of education, administration, business, and public signage and is spoken by all educated Haitians. It is also used for ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations, and church masses. The vast majority of the population speaks Haitian Creole as their first language;
4515-798: The 20th century, when it was replaced by English as the United States became the dominant global power following the Second World War . Stanley Meisler of the Los Angeles Times said that the fact that the Treaty of Versailles was written in English as well as French was the "first diplomatic blow" against the language. During the Grand Siècle (17th century), France, under the rule of powerful leaders such as Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV , enjoyed
4620-682: The Canadian capital, is also effectively bilingual, as it has a large population of federal government workers, who are required to offer services in both French and English, and is just across the river from the Quebecois city of Gatineau . According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), French is the fourth most spoken language in the United States after English, Spanish, and Chinese, when all forms of French are considered together and all dialects of Chinese are similarly combined. French
4725-886: The Caribbean that are collectively referred to as the French West Indies , namely Guadeloupe , Saint Barthélemy , Saint Martin , and Martinique . French is the official language of both French Guiana on the South American continent, and of Saint Pierre and Miquelon , an archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland in North America. French was the official language of the colony of French Indochina , comprising modern-day Vietnam , Laos , and Cambodia . It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent decades. In colonial Vietnam,
4830-524: The Empire, this local elite had been slowly abandoning Gaulish entirely, but the rural and lower class populations remained Gaulish speakers who could sometimes also speak Latin or Greek. The final language shift from Gaulish to Vulgar Latin among rural and lower class populations occurred later, when both they and the incoming Frankish ruler/military class adopted the Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin speech of
4935-406: The French Red Cross , which operated at the school in Eckwersheim. The French Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, Ségolène Royal , and the Secretary of State for Transport , Alain Vidalies , travelled to the site shortly after the crash. The president of SNCF, Guillaume Pepy , and the president of SNCF Réseau , Jacques Rapoport, also travelled to the site in the hours after
5040-416: The Germanic Frankish language , which non-exhaustively included the use in upper-class speech and higher registers of V2 word order , a large percentage of the vocabulary (now at around 15% of modern French vocabulary ) including the impersonal singular pronoun on (a calque of Germanic man ), and the name of the language itself. Up until its later stages, Old French , alongside Old Occitan , maintained
5145-408: The LGV Est line was originally scheduled to begin on 3 April 2016; however, a fatal accident that occurred elsewhere on the new line in November 2015 during commissioning tests delayed the opening of the line until 3 July 2016. The tunnel lies beneath Mont Saint-Michel , beside the Col de Saverne , and within the Northern Vosges Regional Nature Park , a Natura 2000 site. It is located close to
5250-414: The SNCF Réseau command center at Pagny-sur-Moselle . Adjacent to the western portal, the LGV Est traverses the 270 m (890 ft) Haspelbaechel viaduct, which travels up to 35 m (115 ft) above the Haspelbaechel valley. French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] ) is a Romance language of
5355-405: The Vendenheim junction on the display being monitored by staff at the signalling control center . At 15:10, the control center initiated emergency procedures for the loss of a train and closed the non-high-speed rail lines that pass through the Vendenheim junction. At approximately the same time, one of the companies involved in the construction of the line received a call from an employee aboard
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#17330855321385460-454: The accident. The train was carrying 53 people, including four children, ages 10–15, who were not officially authorized to be aboard. The derailment resulted in 11 deaths, which included four employees of SNCF, five technicians from Systra , the engineering firm responsible for the tests, and two guests. Ten died at the crash scene, one died the following evening, and one seriously injured person remained in hospital as of February 2016. Among
5565-414: The border with the department of Moselle and within three communes of the department of Bas-Rhin : Eckartswiller , Saint-Jean-Saverne , Ernolsheim-lès-Saverne . The tunnel is part of the LGV Est high-speed rail line, which will connect Paris with Strasbourg. The line is also a part of the Main line for Europe trans-European high-speed rail line from Paris to Bratislava , Slovakia . The tunnel
5670-487: The canal, coming to rest 80–130 m (260–430 ft) beyond the beginning of the bridge. Cars 8–9 came to rest on the east bank of the canal and the rear engine ended up partially submerged in the canal. According to investigators, late braking, which led to the train entering the curve at excessive speed, was the immediate cause of the accident. Criminal and technical investigations are ongoing . French national rail operator SNCF suspended test trials at high speeds until
5775-467: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French Eckwersheim derailment On 14 November 2015, a TGV train derailed in Eckwersheim , Alsace , France, while performing commissioning trials on the second phase of the LGV Est high-speed rail line, which was scheduled to open for commercial service five months later. The derailment resulted in 11 deaths and 42 injuries. It
5880-439: The curve. According to the SNCF, the "immediate cause" of the accident was "a late braking sequence"; the braking should have begun at least 1km or 12 seconds earlier. The investigation has found no fault for the accident in the infrastructure, train, or member of the technical team. There were seven people in the driving cab at the time of the accident, all of whom survived. Investigators have suggested that this may have been
5985-400: The dead was the director of the LGV Est line for SNCF Réseau , which owns France's railroad infrastructure. Despite breaking in two pieces and the severe impact with the parapet, there were no deaths among the seven people in the front cab. The second-to-last car impacted the canal wall and was the car with the highest death toll. It was the first fatal derailment in the history of the TGV and
6090-404: The demographic prospects of the French-speaking nations of Africa, researcher Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry wrote in 2014 that French "could be the language of the future". However, some African countries such as Algeria intermittently attempted to eradicate the use of French, and as of 2024 it was removed as an official language in Mali and Burkina Faso . Significant as a judicial language, French
6195-448: The economic power of the countries using the language, the number of major areas in which the language is used, and the linguistic prestige associated with the mastery of the language (Weber highlighted that French in particular enjoys considerable linguistic prestige). In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Weber concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged." Knowledge of French
6300-489: The elites primarily spoke French, while many servants who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as " Tây Bồi " (now extinct). After French rule ended, South Vietnam continued to use French in administration, education, and trade. However, since the Fall of Saigon and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively displaced as the first foreign language of choice by English in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it continues to be taught as
6405-409: The end of the bridge. Cars 2–7 derailed before the bridge and traveled off the embankment with enough speed to overshoot the canal and come to rest 80–130 m (260–430 ft) beyond the beginning of the bridge. Cars 8–9 came to rest on the east bank of the canal and the rear power car ended up partially submerged in the canal. At 15:05, the train disappeared from the approach zone for
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#17330855321386510-406: The first government authority to adopt Modern French as official was the Aosta Valley in 1536, while the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) named French the language of law in the Kingdom of France . During the 17th century, French replaced Latin as the most important language of diplomacy and international relations ( lingua franca ). It retained this role until approximately the middle of
6615-407: The flying junction, it is on a raised embankment 5–8 m (16–26 ft) high and bridges the Marne–Rhine Canal . The flying junction marks the end of the LGV Est line, after which the train was to continue on an existing, non-high-speed rail line leading to Strasbourg Station. As the train entered the right-hand curve into the flying junction, the rear bogie of the lead power car derailed to
6720-439: The former Yugoslavia , International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea the International Criminal Court and the World Trade Organization Appellate Body . It is the sole internal working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union , and makes with English the European Court of Human Rights 's two working languages. In 1997, George Weber published, in Language Today ,
6825-715: The gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish. The estimated number of French words that can be attributed to Gaulish is placed at 154 by the Petit Robert , which is often viewed as representing standardized French, while if non-standard dialects are included, the number increases to 240. Known Gaulish loans are skewed toward certain semantic fields, such as plant life ( chêne , bille , etc.), animals ( mouton , cheval , etc.), nature ( boue , etc.), domestic activities (ex. berceau ), farming and rural units of measure ( arpent , lieue , borne , boisseau ), weapons, and products traded regionally rather than further afield. This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants being
6930-401: The language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world. French is the second most commonly spoken language in Canada and one of two federal official languages alongside English. As of the 2021 Canadian census , it was the native language of 7.7 million people (21% of the population) and the second language of 2.9 million (8% of the population). French
7035-424: The language, although it has now given way to Tamil and English. A former French mandate , Lebanon designates Arabic as the sole official language, while a special law regulates cases when French can be publicly used. Article 11 of Lebanon's Constitution states that "Arabic is the official national language. A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used". The French language in Lebanon
7140-501: The language. The Act applies to areas of the province where there are significant Francophone communities, namely Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario . Elsewhere, sizable French-speaking minorities are found in southern Manitoba, Nova Scotia , Prince Edward Island and the Port au Port Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the unique Newfoundland French dialect was historically spoken. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all other provinces. The Ontarian city of Ottawa ,
7245-428: The last to hold onto Gaulish. The beginning of French in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into the country. These invasions had the greatest impact on the northern part of the country and on the language there. A language divide began to grow across the country. The population in the north spoke langue d'oïl while the population in the south spoke langue d'oc . Langue d'oïl grew into what
7350-455: The lead power car's transformer , which ignited and was spread across the bridge and canal banks. The rear bogie of the lead power car remained where it impacted the concrete parapet. The transformer of the lead power car landed on the east bank of the canal. The remainder of the lead power car slid along the left parapet of the bridge. At the end of the bridge, it overturned, slid down the embankment and came to rest 150 m (490 ft) beyond
7455-413: The left (outside of the curve) at 15:04:42 at approximately KP 404.003. Violent transverse movements at the rear of the lead power car caused it to separate from the rest of the train. The rear of the lead power car struck a concrete parapet (KP 404.209) on the leading abutment to the bridge over the Marne–Rhine Canal . The impact broke apart the lead power car and caused oil to leak from
7560-553: The lessons learned from the investigation were integrated into the testing process. The scheduled opening of the second phase of the LGV Est for commercial service was delayed three months, from 3 April 2016 to 3 July 2016. The LGV Est européenne (often shortened to LGV Est ) is a high-speed rail line connecting Paris and Strasbourg . Development has been divided into two phases. The first phase, from Vaires-sur-Marne near Paris, to Baudrecourt opened on 10 June 2007. Construction on
7665-414: The line consisted of four phases: A specialized test train, Dasye set 744 in a commemorative livery , arrived to conduct the fourth phase of testing, which began on 28 September 2015. During this phase, more than 200 test runs would be performed on the line. The test runs would test ride smoothness, performance of the catenary , radio communications, and the signalling system . During some runs,
7770-478: The necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the use of the French language". When public education was made compulsory , only French was taught and the use of any other ( patois ) language was punished. The goals of the public school system were made especially clear to the French-speaking teachers sent to teach students in regions such as Occitania and Brittany . Instructions given by
7875-456: The northern Vosges at its narrowest point and is adjacent to the Saverne Pass , which already contains the A4 autoroute , Departmental Route 219, and remnants of an ancient Roman road. The line was originally built for Réseau Ferré de France (RFF), which owned and operated the infrastructure of the French national railway network. In a government restructuring of the French railroad network, RFF
7980-574: The official use or teaching of French. It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France; Canada (especially in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick); Belgium ( Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region ); western Switzerland (specifically the cantons forming the Romandy region); parts of Luxembourg; parts of the United States (the states of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont); Monaco;
8085-528: The other main foreign language in the Vietnamese educational system and is regarded as a cultural language. All three countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF). French was the official language of French India , consisting of the geographically separate enclaves referred to as Puducherry . It continued to be an official language of the territory even after its cession to India in 1956 until 1965. A small number of older locals still retain knowledge of
8190-462: The preferred language of certain institutions or administrations such as the Court of Justice of the European Union , where it is the sole internal working language, or the Directorate-General for Agriculture . Since 2016, Brexit has rekindled discussions on whether or not French should again hold greater role within the institutions of the European Union. A leading world language , French
8295-464: The rest largely speak French as a first language. As a French Creole language , Haitian Creole draws the large majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African languages, as well as several European languages. It is closely related to Louisiana Creole and the creole from the Lesser Antilles . French is the sole official language of all the overseas territories of France in
8400-970: The rest of the second phase of the LGV Est on 3 July 2016. The total cost of the tunnel was approximately €200 million. The Saverne Tunnel was constructed as part of the second phase of the LGV Est européenne (often shortened to LGV Est ). to connect Paris and Strasbourg —the principal city of the Grand Est region and home to several European institutions , including the Council of Europe . The first phase across 300 kilometres (190 mi) of relatively flat land from Vaires-sur-Marne (near Paris) to Baudrecourt (near Metz and Nancy ) opened in 2007. The second phase traverses 106 km (66 mi) of rougher terrain from Baudrecourt to Vendenheim (near Strasbourg). Opened in 2016, it further reduced travel time between Paris and Strasbourg from 2h20min to 1h50min and reduced travel time from Luxembourg City to Strasbourg from 2h10min to 1h25min. The Saverne Tunnel crosses
8505-476: The rest of the train, and the rear of the lead engine struck the concrete parapet on the abutment to a bridge over the Marne–Rhine Canal . The engine slid along the left parapet of the bridge and overturned, sliding down the embankment and coming to rest 150 m (490 ft) beyond the end of the bridge. Cars 2–7 derailed before the bridge and travelled off the embankment with enough inertia to overshoot
8610-452: The subjects which SNCF will investigate is whether there was a dereliction of duties by an SNCF employee that resulted in the unauthorized children riding on the train. The president of SNCF has exclaimed: "This is not a practice that SNCF recognizes. A test train is a test train." The derailment occurred the day after the November 2015 Paris attacks , initially sparking fears that the derailment
8715-415: The test train would operate at 10% above the planned operational speeds for the line when it entered service. Some automated safety systems were disabled to allow the test train to operate beyond normal operating conditions. Orientation training for operators was scheduled to take place between January and March 2016 prior to the start of commercial service on the line, which was scheduled for 3 April 2016 at
8820-556: The third derailment since the TGV entered commercial service in 1981. Three investigations have been opened. The French Land Transport Accident Investigation Bureau (BEA-TT, Bureau d'Enquêtes sur les Accidents de Transport Terrestre ), which is responsible for investigating rail accidents in France, opened a non-judicial technical investigation. The BEA-TT published its final report in March 2017. A criminal investigation and internal investigation by SNCF have also been opened. Among
8925-495: The time of the accident. In January 2016, SNCF announced that the opening of the line would be delayed until 3 July 2016. Tests scheduled for 11 and 14 November were to traverse each of the two tracks, in both directions of travel and at a test speed 10% above the speed limit when the line is in commercial service. On the afternoon of 14 November, the test train was scheduled to depart Meuse TGV Station at 14:18 and arrive at Strasbourg Station at 15:17. At 14:26, authorization
9030-414: The total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and 650 million by 2050, largely due to rapid population growth in sub-Saharan Africa . OIF estimates 700 million French speakers by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa. In a study published in March 2014 by Forbes , the investment bank Natixis said that French could become the world's most spoken language by 2050. In
9135-412: The train, who informed them of the derailment. Shortly before 17:45, the local mass casualty plan was enacted. Emergency medical and fire rescue services along with 100 gendarmes responded to the incident. At its height, 104 engines from three départments responded to the incident—65 from Bas-Rhin and 39 from Moselle and Haut-Rhin . Those with minor injuries were treated by responders from
9240-673: The two official languages—along with Dutch —of the Brussels-Capital Region , where it is spoken by the majority of the population (approx. 80%), often as their primary language. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, along with German, Italian, and Romansh , and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland, called Romandy , of which Geneva is the largest city. The language divisions in Switzerland do not coincide with political subdivisions, and some cantons have bilingual status: for example, cities such as Biel/Bienne and cantons such as Valais , Fribourg and Bern . French
9345-508: The urban intellectual elite. The Gaulish language likely survived into the sixth century in France despite considerable Romanization . Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French contributing loanwords and calques (including oui , the word for "yes"), sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence, and influences in conjugation and word order. Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have been motivated by
9450-479: The use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. In Belgium, French is an official language at the federal level along with Dutch and German. At the regional level, French is the sole official language of Wallonia (excluding a part of the East Cantons , which are German-speaking ) and one of
9555-459: The victims during the course of operations on Monday, 16 November. The following day, a memorial service was held in the church in Mundolsheim , which was attended by SNCF President Guillaume Pepy . SNCF suspended all test trials at high speeds until the lessons learned from the investigation can be integrated into testing processes. A memorial garden and stone marker were dedicated at the site on
9660-531: The workplace. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese . In English-speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, French is the first foreign language taught and in number of pupils is far ahead of other languages. In the United States, French is the second-most commonly taught foreign language in schools and universities, although well behind Spanish. In some areas of
9765-402: The world's French-speaking population lives in Africa. According to a 2023 estimate from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie , an estimated 167 million African people spread across 35 countries and territories can speak French as either a first or a second language . This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as
9870-417: Was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the ( Germanic ) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to the French colonial empire , there are numerous French-based creole languages , most notably Haitian Creole . A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French
9975-791: Was during the period of the Crusades in which French became so dominant in the Mediterranean Sea that became a lingua franca ("Frankish language"), and because of increased contact with the Arabs during the Crusades who referred to them as Franj , numerous Arabic loanwords entered French, such as amiral (admiral), alcool (alcohol), coton (cotton) and sirop (syrop), as well as scientific terms such as algébre (algebra), alchimie (alchemy) and zéro (zero). Within Old French many dialects emerged but
10080-408: Was given to begin the test and the test train left Meuse TGV Station two minutes later. During this test, the test train traveled eastbound on Track 2, the southern track on the east–west oriented LGV Est, in the direction opposite normal operation (Strasbourg towards Paris). The Meuse-Strasbourg run was the last series of tests on the line during the fourth phase of tests. The train reached
10185-447: Was gradually adopted by the inhabitants of Gaul. As the language was learned by the common people, it developed a distinct local character, with grammatical differences from Latin as spoken elsewhere, some of which is attested in graffiti. This local variety evolved into the Gallo-Romance tongues, which include French and its closest relatives, such as Arpitan . The evolution of Latin in Gaul
10290-684: Was known in the Occitan-speaking region as Vergonha . Spoken by 19.71% of the European Union's population, French is the third most widely spoken language in the EU, after English and German and the second-most-widely taught language after English. Under the Constitution of France , French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992, although the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts made it mandatory for legal documents in 1539. France mandates
10395-703: Was merged into SNCF on 1 January 2015 and is now a subdivision of SNCF known as SNCF Réseau . The tunnel was part of the Lot 47 segment of the LGV Est for the contracting and construction. Lot 47 consisted of the Saverne Tunnel, the adjacent Haspelbaechel viaduct, and an additional 3.3 kilometres (2.1 mi) of the LGV line through the communes of Danne-et-Quatre-Vents in Moselle and Eckartswiller , Saint-Jean-Saverne , and Ernolsheim-lès-Saverne in Bas-Rhin . In September 2010, RFF awarded
10500-575: Was shaped by its coexistence for over half a millennium beside the native Celtic Gaulish language , which did not go extinct until the late sixth century, long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire . The population remained 90% indigenous in origin; the Romanizing class were the local native elite (not Roman settlers), whose children learned Latin in Roman schools. At the time of the collapse of
10605-449: Was the first fatal derailment in the history of the TGV and the third derailment since the TGV entered commercial service in 1981. The test train was traveling eastbound on the southern track when it entered a curve at 265 km/h (165 mph)—90 km/h (56 mph) over its assigned speed—causing the rear bogie of the lead engine to derail to the left (outside of curve) due to centrifugal forces . The lead engine separated from
10710-554: Was the language they use the most at home rose from 67% at the 2007 census to 74% at the 2017 census. In Wallis and Futuna, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 10% at the 2008 census to 13% at the 2018 census. According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie ,
10815-421: Was the work of terrorists. On 19 November, SNCF announced the initial findings of their investigation. The train's event recorder indicated that the train entered the curve at 265km/h and was travelling at 243km/h at the moment it derailed, which investigators have determined to be a result of centrifugal forces . The speed at the moment of derailment was 67km/h above the train's assigned operating speed on
10920-416: Was used to construct embankments in nearby sections of the LGV Est line. In total, 30,960 precast concrete lining segments were used. Concreting of the final interconnecting passage was completed on 24 June 2013, marking the end of construction of the tunnel walls. On 14 April 2014, civil engineering work on the tunnel was completed, but railroad signaling and equipment still needed to be installed. Service on
11025-407: Was used to excavate 3,820 m (12,530 ft) of the 4,200 m (13,800 ft) tunnel, the remainder consisting of false tunnel constructed at both ends. The TBM was christened Charlotte —in honor of a girl from a nearby village—in a ceremony on 25 October 2011. It began excavation of the first bore on 10 November 2011 from the eastern side of Mont Saint-Michel and completed the first bore over
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