The Covid-19 spares no one, not even our daily transport, but for now, and you may have noticed it, your main journeys are insured. In Savoie and Haute-Savoie, all SNCF services (offices, technicians, drivers) are affected by this virus “but the essential is done” us the direction, “only 2 to 3 trains are deleted per day.”
In most cases, fallback solutions are offered to travelers, such as setting up substitute buses. According to the SNCF, 3/4 of journeys on the Chambéry-Grenoble-Modane-Lyon line are preserved even if the situation can quickly change.
“We could run 100% of our trains”
On the railway union side, we recognize that the situation could have been much worse in view of the health crisis. Even if with more resources allocated by management, “we could have run 100% of the trains and avoided replacements” according to Antoine Fatiga, CGT Transport Manager.
“At the union level, what we are looking for is to run 100% of our trains. So we would have to hire and at the same time we would have to have equipment available. What is annoying for the user? the one who usually takes the 6:24 train. It may take more than 6:40 or 6:50, but there will still be a train solution that will be taken. at the stop, there are still a lot of trains running. “
Now is the time for education for the railway company, which invites you to regularly consult its site on the eve of your departure or, the Twitter thread SNCF TER AURA for live disturbances.
Not the same luck for the Léman Express
Absences due to illness are on the increase at the Swiss Federal Railways (CFF), Switzerland’s main railway company. The situation is tense. In some units, there are no more staff reserves.
“I am worried about the month of January, out of 300 employees, about twenty are on sick leave, it will not get better – Sylvain Terrade, General Secretary CGT Cheminots Annemasse
According to Swiss railway workers, “Léman Express trains thus run at the rate of one train every half hour instead of every quarter of an hour between Coppet and Annemasse.”
With several cases of Covid on the Swiss driver’s side, the Geneva-Annemasse line should also be affected.