On the side of the RATP as of the SNCF, there is no subject… The strike movement which affected, this Saturday, line B of the RER would have had no impact on the late influx of supporters at the gates from the Stade de France to Saint-Denis and the chaos that followed.
“All our users were transported in good conditions to the Stade de France station. For us, everything went well. At 8:30 p.m., there were almost no more travelers departing from Paris Nord, which is rare. Usually, we still transport supporters 10 minutes from the kick-off of the match, ”we react to the press service of the SNCF de Paris Nord, in charge in particular of sending the RER D.
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A strike “which had, in general, no impact on the event”, is content to respond to the RATP before justifying itself by re-detailing the traffic and communication plan put in place on Saturday.
A congestion of travelers coming from the RER D station
However, this is not the opinion of the police headquarters (PP). In the sequence of events that led to the serious incidents, it points the finger at the transport strike. Stating that many spectators used line D to avoid the social movement underway on the RER B. Trains, according to the PP, then overstretched which dumped many more travelers than usual on this path leading to the Stade de France . This then created a congestion of travelers and then a bottleneck on the forecourt of the sports enclosure.
The counts carried out by the SNCF services on Saturday confirm this transfer of passengers from one line to the other. The RER D trains transported 37,000 passengers towards Saint-Denis, which is three and a half times more than during a major event at the Stade de France.
RER B loaded 6,200, i.e. two and a half times less. When we ask the RATP to find out what it intends to do to avoid, in the future, being faced with a social movement during such an event (especially for the Paris 2024 Olympics), it remains very jargon and explains to us that it maintains “a constant social dialogue with the trade unions”. “If these discussions cannot prevent, on very rare occasions, strikes, the company has solutions to ensure the circulation of trains: a reserve of drivers or managers. »