On the wall, maps of the Ile-de-France network, cameras filming the strategic points of the station, the board of departures and arrivals. In the small room of the crisis center at the Gare du Nord this Monday, August 14 in the morning, the team is refocused around Pascal Geiger, regional operations manager at SNCF Réseau.
Objective: to take stock with the Minister of Transport Clément Beaune, after the exceptional closure since Saturday August 12, and this, until Tuesday August 15 morning, of the RER B, between the Gare du Nord and Aulnay-sous-Bois (Seine -Saint-Denis) and Gare du Nord and Mitry-Claye (Seine-et-Marne), due to works.
“Overall everything went well”underlines Amandine Martin, general secretary of Transilien SNCF Voyageurs, recalling that the most critical remained the morning peak between 7 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. “That of the evening – from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. – is more spread out, and therefore less dense”she assures.
After a tense weekend, but without major incident, this Monday was indeed the most dreaded day, since it was a working day, on this route which not only serves Charles-de-Gaulle airport but is also borrowed by many so-called “essential” workers, such as hospital staff, and all the women and men who work to prepare the city, who cannot telework.
Hotspots
Of the 600 buses and 1,000 additional drivers who were mobilized during the three days, half of the reinforcements were put in on this single day. “In Aulnay-sous-Bois, there were people, full buses, but after the peak the situation became calm again. There is a waiting time of around 10 to 15 minutes”underlines one of the agents of the crisis cell, on the telephone, while this city of Seine-Saint-Denis was one of the hotspots to monitor.
The organizers also say they have learned the lessons of the first two days of cutoff during which many travelers complained about the lack of organization. “We are constantly adapting”, insists Pascal Geiger. At the Gare du Nord, where tourists were still a little lost, the number of red vests on the platforms has been tripled to help customers. Station announcements have been reinforced.
At Roissy, where 125,000 passengers arrived daily over these three days of work, the signage has also been reworked so that tourists can more easily find terminal 2F from where coaches depart for the Stade de France station, from where they can join the train network, by getting on the RER D. “At Charles de Gaulle, where there are no more people compared to this weekend, coach departures take place every 4 to 7 minutes”, explains an agent on the spot. The taxis were even rather overcrowded. “At 11.30 a.m., there were 18 queues of taxis waiting”, reports Yucel Karakuslik, driver who made an errand at the airport this morning.
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