A source close the investigation said the dead were four men and two women, aged between 19 and 82.
In what officials described as a “catastrophe”, the train came off the tracks and crashed into the station platform at 5:14 pm Friday, as it travelled at 137 kilometres (85 miles) per hour on its way from Paris to the west-central city of Limoges.
Four carriages of the train jumped the tracks, of which three overturned. One carriage smashed across a platform and came to rest on a parallel track; another lay half-way across the platform. There were 385 passengers on the train.
The local prefect’s office said six people had been killed and nine seriously injured, including two in critical condition. Health officials said at least 50 people had been treated for injuries.
Rescuers worked throughout the night searching for victims potentially trapped in overturned carriages, but the prefect’s office said no more were expected to be found.
Autopsies were to be conducted on the bodies of the dead on Saturday.
The SNCF, judicial authorities and France’s BEA safety agency were each carrying out separate investigations of the accident.
Witnesses said the crash site resembled a war zone, with 57-year-old passenger Marc Cheutin saying he had to “step over a decapitated person” to exit the carriage he had been travelling in.
Officials dismissed reports of a group of people pretending to be part of rescue efforts and attempting to steal from the victims.
Cuvillier said he was unaware of any reports of victims being robbed. He said one person was arrested for trying to steal a mobile phone from a rescue worker, but that it was an “isolated incident”.
The derailment was France’s worst rail accident since 2008, when a train collided with a schoolbus, killing seven schoolchildren.
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