With the controllers’ strike, some 200,000 travelers find themselves in carafes and the SNCF continues to refine its traffic forecasts for the Christmas weekend.
Only two out of three trains will run this weekend, according to SNCF’s overall estimate. Cancellations almost exclusively concern TGVs. On Friday, in detail, two out of three TGVs should run on the Atlantic and Mediterranean axes, one out of two trains on the North axis (the Paris-Lille shuttle is announced to be almost normal) and three out of four East TGVs.
TGVs between provincial stations will be more affected. Three Ouigo out of four should also circulate. Intercity traffic should be normal, but several have been canceled between Paris and Clermont-Ferrand or Limoges, for example.
Not better Saturday and Sunday
For Saturday and Sunday, there will be slightly more cancellations than Friday, SNCF warned, indicating that 2 out of 5 trains would be canceled. One out of two TGVs should run on the North and Atlantic axes and three out of five TGVs on the South-East and East axes. Two Ouigo out of three are planned, said the SNCF in a press release.
A look at sncf-connect.com shows much higher cancellation rates than on Friday, especially for secondary stations: 10 of the 20 TGV Paris-Rennes appear canceled on Saturday (50%), as well as 13 of the 22 TGV Paris- Bordeaux on Sunday (59%), and eight of the 11 TGV Paris-Angoulême on Sunday (73%).
Travelers whose train has been canceled will be able to change their ticket without paying the price difference, repeats the SNCF. But most of the maintained trains are already full.
The attitude of the controllers, who launched this strike by organizing on Facebook over the unions, somewhat annoys the management of the SNCF, which calculates that the wage increases represent 12% on average over two years.
An “unacceptable” strike during the holidays
Last year, a strike also ruined the first weekend of departures during the Christmas holidays, and the railway company had for the first time decided to reimburse travelers for double the amount of their canceled ticket.
The CEO of SNCF Voyageurs, Christophe Fanichet, renewed the measure on Wednesday. He who found last year “scandalous” to strike for the holidays repeated that it was “unacceptable”.
VIDEO. Strike at the SNCF: 2 trains out of 3 planned on average for the Christmas weekend
The controllers had already gone on strike the first weekend of December. Since November, the SNCF has been struggling to establish a dialogue with the collective organizing the movement, which is calling for better recognition of the specificity of their job st and independent of the unions, even if they had to rely on the latter to file notices .
Management has proposed to increase the “work bonus” for skippers (the official name of controllers) by 600 euros per year, part of which will be integrated into their salary in 2024, as well as an additional allowance of 600 euros gross per year.
Proposals deemed sufficiently satisfactory for the Unsa-Ferroviaire to withdraw its notice and for the CGT-Cheminots and SUD-rail not to call for the work to be stopped. Hundreds of controllers decided otherwise.