This is a worrying report from the labor inspectorate on the lack of ventilation in TGVs. Posted by Médiapart, air renewal in high-speed trains would be insufficient. We explain to you.
A risk of exposure for SNCF agents and passengers
According to a report, sent by the Departmental Directorate of Employment, Labor and Solidarity of the Rhône to the management of the SNCF and reported by Médiapart, the rail network does not sufficiently filter the air on board their high-speed trains. In any case, this is confirmed by the results of the control of the level of CO2 in the air carried out by agents of the Labor Inspectorate on the high-speed line Lyon-Montpellier in a train running on May 12.
In a notice of April 28, the High Council for Public Health (HCSP) recommends that establishments open to the public “implement aeration actions and ensure the proper functioning of the ventilation when the concentration exceeds 800 ppm [parties par million] in CO2 “. By way of comparison, outdoors, it would be of the order of 400 ppm. But the checks carried out by the Labor Inspectorate show much higher figures. Thus the concentration was on average 1,380 ppm and 1,000 depending on the car, over the entire route of the TGV. Peaks of 4,200 to 3,000 ppm were also exceeded. The labor inspectorate draws a rather alarming conclusion, stating that a “Risk of exposure of on-board agents (and customers) to the Sars-CoV-2 virus in the absence of effective measures allowing the respect of barrier gestures as well as ensuring efficient air renewal”. It asks the railway company for ” preventative measures “ as June 9 approaches, a new phase of deconfinement, with the restoration which will return to the vicinity of high-speed trains.
“TGVs are contaminants”
Unlike airplanes, TGVs have gravimetric filters and not high performance filters (HEPA). Without these, “TGVs are contaminants”, underlines Bruno Andreotti, professor at the École normale supérieure (ENS) specializing in the physics of virus dispersion and ventilation, cited by Mediapart.
However, the SNCF defends itself, the company “Applies with the greatest rigor all the instructions and rules of the health authorities, in terms of ventilation or filtration of the air on board trains, as it enforces the obligation to wear a mask“, she confirmed. Contacted by France Info, the SNCF replies that “the recommendations of the High Council of Public Health of a CO2 level threshold of 800 ppm do not concern rail transport but only target unventilated establishments open to the public (ERP)”. On the other hand, it ensures “apply (…) the regulations in force in rail transport, which have not changed with the pandemic, and which sets the maximum level of CO2 in the air at 5,000 ppm”. The railway company also confirms that the sanitary measures (wearing of the mask and daily disinfection of the cars) are scrupulously applied.