French people who had planned to travel this weekend will have noticed this: at the station, some trains are canceled, and others not. These random movements were explained by Christophe Fanichet, CEO of the company SNCF Voyageurs.
Originally launched by an informal collective of controllers, the controllers’ strike began on the evening of Thursday February 15 and will last until Monday February 19, 2024. It was initiated during the school holiday period in zones A and Cor during a weekend of crossover. The collective is demanding in particular a renegotiation of the end-of-career agreement, as well as taking bonuses into account in the calculation of pensions.
As a result of this surprise strike, on average one train in two will run nationally. As explained France Inter, the SNCF had to choose the trains that it would “save”, and Christophe Fanichet, the CEO of the SNCF Voyageurs company, apparently based himself on geographical criteria, letting the vehicles travel on rails straight towards the snow. “The objective is to ensure departures and returns to the snow, and I am very confident about that,” he explained on Radio France. Anticipating criticism, he however defended himself from preferential treatment. Simply, according to him, it is difficult, if not impossible, for families who have booked a rental from a fixed day to another fixed day to find accommodation for an additional night in the event of a train cancellation.
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Why are there even fewer trains on certain lines?
But other traffic differences have already been noted during this first weekend of the strike. Two thirds of trains are, for example, canceled on the Bordeaux-Paris line. But here, this disparity cannot be explained by a choice of the management teams. The rate of different strikers is simply higher on this path which connects the asphalt to the sea.
On February 15, 2024, Alain Krakovitch, director of TGV-Intercités, presented a sincere apology. At the microphone of BFMTV, he assured that exchanges or reimbursements would this time be very simplified: “We remember that in December 2022 [pendant d’autres grèves, NDRL]it had been a bit complicated. There, it will be almost automatic, there will be no action to take, travelers will receive a reduction voucher valid on their next journey whatever the route. We wanted to make this gesture strong enough, commensurate with the problems that the French will experience this weekend. »
Camille Bonvalet has an interest in societal subjects and feminist issues. She is also passionate about literature. Versatile, she appreciates the prose of Flaubert as much as that of Michel…