Yesterday I read on a French website (sorry, cannot retrieve it) that an SNCF employee said it was common practice to allow family members on a ride like this, unlike the official policy quoted today.
The big question is ofcourse why the train's speed was 'excessively high'. Two kilometres farther the LGV joins the ordinary line where the speed limit is 160 km/h.
Another question is: when did the train switch to the right hand track? TGV trains run on the left hand track, but the derailment obviously took place on the southern most bridge across the canal (see picture in Le Figaro), whose curve is even narrower than the northern one. I cannot believe it has been designed for a very high speed.
http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-fra...strasbourg.php