Some disturbances continued Thursday, March 9, the third day of a renewable strike at the call of the unions against the pension reform. While the situation is clearly improving in Parisian transport, it remains disrupted on high-speed lines, in air transport and in the energy sector. Several secondary and higher establishments have also been blocked, at the call of several youth organizations including student unions.
►Transport: persistent disruptions at SNCF, improvement planned in Paris
The SNCF was on Thursday able to run a third of its TGVs, like Wednesday, and 40% of regional trains against a third the day before. In rail transport, many testimonials on social networks describe crowded and few trains. The most disrupted lines are the RER D and the R line of the Transilien, in Île-de-France, with 80% fewer trains than usual.
The SNCF announced traffic still “very disturbed” for Friday with half of its TGV Inoui and Ouigo removed as well as 60% of its TER, and a level of service which should remain equivalent throughout the weekend. The public group therefore calls on travelers to “cancel or postpone their trips on March 10 and the weekend”.
In the Paris metro, the situation has improved significantly with normal or almost normal traffic on half of the lines. Traffic will be normal on most Paris metro lines on Friday March 10, only the RER B remaining “very disturbed”announced the Régie.
In the metro, only line 13 will experience limited operation with a closure at 8:00 p.m., the other lines remaining open at the usual times with some difficulties on the 5, 8 and 10. There will only be one train out of two on the RER B at peak times and two out of three at off-peak hours; and three out of four all day on the RER A.
In the sky, as since Tuesday, the General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC) has asked airlines to give up 20 to 30% of their flights departing from and arriving at major airports in France. Transavia, the low-cost subsidiary of Air France-KLM which operates short and medium-haul routes, cut nearly 60 flights on Thursday. The DGAC also asked Thursday to cancel 20% of flights this weekend at several airports, including Orly.
►Mobilization of youth: blockages in high schools and universities
The student union L’Alternative counted in the morning blockages in about twenty establishments, including the universities of Montpellier, Besançon, Le Havre, Nanterre, Rouen or Grenoble or the institutes of political studies of Bordeaux and Strasbourg or one of the two campuses of the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) in Lyon. As for high schools, the Ministry of Education reported 15 blocked establishments and seven partially, and the La Voix lycéenne union reported 200 blocked high schools.
These mobilizations took place on the occasion of a “day of action and mobilization of youth”, on the initiative of several youth organisations, including student unions (Unef, Alternative and Fage) and La Voix Lycéenne. Several hundred young people demonstrated Thursday afternoon in Paris at the call of high school and student organizations.
► Refineries: blockage lifted at Port-Jérôme-Gravenchon
The strike was lifted and fuel shipments resumed at the Esso-ExxonMobil refinery in Port-Jérôme-Gravenchon (Normandy), one of two major refineries near Le Havre, and the first to resume work.
Elsewhere, the movement continues with the blocking of shipments to the TotalEnergies refineries in La Mède, Donges, Normandy and Feyzin, as well as to the Flandres depot. The strike was also renewed for 24 hours at the Fos-sur-Mer (Esso-ExxonMobil) and Lavera (Petroineos) refineries.
Of 200 fuel depots, five were blocked on Wednesday evening, Olivier Gantois, president of Ufip Energies and Mobilities, which represents companies in the oil sector. “There is no supply problem and the situation is improving”.
According to public data analyzed by AFP, 4.78% of stations lacked Thursday at noon of at least one type of fuel (gasoline or diesel), a slight improvement compared to the day before (5.78%). The shortages mainly affected stations in the west of France with between 20 and 25% of stations lacking a type of fuel in Mayenne, Sarthe or Calvados.
► Electricity: notable drops in production
Electricity production cuts amounted to 8,700 megawatts (MW) as of 8 a.m. Thursday, according to EDF, the equivalent of eight nuclear reactors. RTE has sent a request to stop production reductions, “to pass the peak (of consumption, editor’s note) in the morning”said the electricity transmission manager.
Agents from the gas and electricity sector also claimed to have cut off the power at the Stade de France and at the Olympic village site in Saint-Denis during an operation with no less than 300 people.
► Gas: the network is idling
The four French LNG terminals which receive imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) are shut down. Regarding the storage sites, 13 out of 14 – but the last one is a small site without employees – are blocked. “Apart from the low import and biogas, there are no more entrants into the gas network”said Fabrice Coudour, federal secretary of the FNME-CGT union.
“Little by little, the gas network is weakening”he said, not excluding “a possible shortage of gas” in a few days. According to him, “the determination is all the more intact as this passage of article 7 in the Senate reinforces a little the anger”.