Sébastien is formal: from now on, he will take his car to go to work in Strasbourg. This resident of a small town to the north of the Alsatian conurbation recalls with annoyance the first three months of the European Metropolitan Express Network (Reme) between “delay and daily deletion of trains”. It evokes “trains crowded like cattle trucks” and a lack of travel information. “Apotheosis”according to him, of a regional network already in the grip of many difficulties whose users pay the price.
It is however for “intensify rail services” that the Grand Est region and the metropolis of Strasbourg launched this first metropolitan RER on December 11, 2022, two weeks after Emmanuel Macron’s announcements. The president then wanted the deployment of such networks in ten French cities.
Two objectives have been assigned to the Reme: it must make it possible to increase the frequency of trains during the day, from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., and to increase the number of trains in circulation each week, within a radius of approximately fifty kilometers from Strasbourg. To do this, additional trains run at off-peak hours, as with the Paris RER, so that everyone has “a train within half an hour or quarter of an hour”. Other projects, such as the development of park and ride facilities and an extension to Germany, are in the pipeline, but over the long term.
An investment of 14 million euros
Implementing the Reme required a complex and unique mix of skills. The Grand Est region, the sole authority in charge of rail transport, has joined forces since 2021 with the metropolis of Strasbourg to finance the entire project in equal shares, up to 14 million euros. On the rail side, SNCF Réseau (which operates the network and SNCF Voyageurs) organizes the service.
To achieve this “new mobility system” praised by local authorities, the various companies of the SNCF face a challenge, that of increasing the number of trains during the day. A single RER type line, where Strasbourg is only a through station, has been put into operation.
In this logic, “the system is pushed to its limits”, analyzes Patricia Pérennes, consultant at Trans-Missions and specialist in the regional rail network. However, the disturbances of the Alsatian regional trains were already numerous before the appearance of the new metropolitan RER. “During the year 2021 already, transport plans had been put in place”, explains François Giordani, regional president of the National Federation of Transport User Associations (FNAUT). These “service reductions” were the result of a lack of controllers, drivers and maintainers.
The SNCF was committed
“The SNCF has guaranteed us since May that there would be no problem and that the network would hold”ensures for its part to The cross Thibaud Phillips, vice-president of the Grand Est region in charge of transport, which specifies that this guarantee has been given “in writing”. Despite warnings from the unions about the lack of personnel, the departure of the Reme was recorded on December 11.
But from day one, the network experienced a series of incidents and disruptions. First confronted with the weather during the first week, the SNCF reduced the trains put into circulation by 25%. This discount is still in effect. The FNAUT estimates between “10 to 15%” currently canceled trains.
Among the difficulties encountered by the rail group, the saturation of Strasbourg station. It is faced with a lack of storage tracks and maintenance infrastructure for the trains, which leads to delays and cascading cancellations.
50% of the subscription refunded
To the chagrin of users, who regularly question the situation. In particular, they obtained from the SNCF the payment of 50% of their season ticket for February, March and April. A “measuring spoon” for Sébastien, who mocks a ” lack of communication “ about schedule changes and daily disruptions. “Often, there are not the same indications on the application, on the bulletin boards and with the agents”, relate-t-il.
For Patricia Pérennes, users pay “years of chronic underinvestment in rail”. Yet everyone – users, researchers and local authorities – praise the development objective of the RER in French cities. If Strasbourg and the Grand Est have missed the first mark and the initial objective of 813 additional trains has been reached “by the end of the summer”, according to FNAUT estimates, “their colleagues from other cities must come and see them so as not to repeat the same mistakes”.