To analyse. The breakdown which blocked the RER B for almost two hours, Tuesday February 8, in Drancy (Seine-Saint-Denis), in the middle of rush hour, forcing the SNCF to cut part of the traffic at the Gare du Nord, did not surprised no one among the regulars on the line, subscribers to repeated incidents and hiccups.
Two days later, when Ile-de-France Mobilités published the ranking of the most delayed lines of the year 2021, it is obviously the B, the second busiest in Europe, which won the prize. To the north, past Aulnay-sous-bois, two out of ten trains, the equivalent of two journeys per week for those who use it every day, have been running for eight months with more than a quarter of an hour late. . In the south, it was after Bourg-la-Reine (Hauts-de-Seine) that the troubles began and lasted three months.
The most affected travelers, those at the end of the line, will be able to claim compensation. But the approximately ten million euros that they will share, on the basis of half a month or a month of Navigo pass each, will find it difficult to compensate for the two years of difficulty to come. Because between now and the inauguration of the 2024 Olympic Games, and in anticipation of the commissioning of the Charles-de-Gaulle Express, the direct Paris-Roissy link expected for 2026, major work must be carried out. In addition to suffering the daily vagaries, it will therefore be necessary to deal with whole weekends without trains and shortened weekday evenings. But if in inner Paris there are alternatives to the line cut, in the suburbs, buses and trams hardly replace the train.
The RER B line is also that of “front line” workers, the one whose six-hour trains are crowded even in full confinement
If black is the picture, we hardly hear the passengers of the RER complain. Or rather, we listen to them little. As proof, this decision taken by the government to maintain a concert by the Indochine group at the Stade de France, on Saturday May 21, while a heavy intervention was scheduled for this weekend in May.
Since this does not concern either the CDG Express or the Olympics, the Minister of Transport saw no inconvenience in postponing work on the catenary, and not afraid of further weakening this strategic axis which crosses the Ile-de-France. -France from north to south, serves three airports, the examination center, but also the districts of the northern suburbs. Because the RER B is also the means of transport for “front line” workers, the one whose six-hour trains are crowded even in full confinement.
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