A “record summer” in the trains. Faced with the crowds and the lack of places denounced by travelers who are unable to book, the SNCF will put on sale 500,000 additional places, announced Thursday its CEO, Jean-Pierre Farandou.
“We are off to a record summer, even beyond 2019 (…) we have already sold eight million tickets for July and August, this is 10% more than in 2019, so we are seeing a very strong push “, he declared on France 2. Faced with this success, it is necessary to compose: “We are on the block, we add oars, we make double compositions with two oars at the same time”, he said. added, welcoming the mobilization of railway workers to ensure the departure on vacation of the French, whom he called to take the train rather than their car out of “citizen concern”.
The trains are, according to Mr. Farandou, full on the days of the big departure but “there are places left” outside these periods.
“Difficult period” in the Paris region
Various strike movements are currently agitating the SNCF, particularly in Île-de-France with traffic disrupted by works which lead to last-minute changes to the schedules of drivers, denounced by the unions. Wage demands have also been added to the protests. Asked about these movements, Mr. Farandou recognized a “difficult period”, especially in the Paris region for users and drivers, and indicated that discussions with the social partners were “engaged” with “all options” on the table. “I try to practice a social dialogue of solution and construction and not too much a social dialogue of obstruction (…) which penalizes users and customers”, he said, referring to a social climate “ a little tense but not just at the SNCF”, in particular because of the difficulties relating to purchasing power.
Regarding the increase in ticket prices for users who face inflation, the CEO said that it would be “contradictory to want to develop traffic and have high prices” and that, despite the increase of the price of electricity, the repercussion on the costs for the SNCF would not be “too significant” in 2022 thanks to purchases made in advance. “For 2023, the question will arise”, according to Mr. Farandou.