The period is delicate for SNCF passengers. While many French people hope to spend the holidays with family for Christmas and New Year, a strike by SNCF controllers severely disrupts train traffic. The CEO of SNCF Voyageurs, Christophe Fanichet, then announced on France Info a reimbursement of the trains removed at “200%” this Wednesday morning.
“I am announcing that we will reimburse for travelers who will not be able to circulate 200% reimbursement. It is a very special period, this strike is unacceptable so we owed this gesture to our customers, ”he assured. “I want to apologize to the company,” said the leader immediately. “A strike for the Christmas holidays is really unacceptable, I am angry”. The strike, which the SNCF unions did not openly call but for which they left notice, will cause the cancellation of around one in three trains this weekend, mainly TGVs.
Free exchanges
The SNCF promises that travelers can exchange their tickets online free of charge, if their initial train is cancelled, without having to pay any price difference or exchange fees, certainly on condition of finding places in trains that are now almost full for the weekend. “The exchange is free, they can take another train to the same destination, any other day, without any fare increase,” repeated Christophe Fanichet.
The SNCF has not yet given the details of the cancellations for Saturday and Sunday, but has already said that the situation should be slightly degraded compared to Friday.
The controllers are on strike for the two holiday weekends. They are calling for measures to improve their career development and salary increases.