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Jean-Pierre Farandou, CEO of SNCF, wants to be reassuring about the risks of Covid-19 contamination when taking the train. However, other studies warn about certain aspects such as poor ventilation in trains that could promote the spread of the virus.
The Covid-19 epidemic affects many people in France. However, according to Jean-Pierre Farandou, CEO of SNCF, “when you take the train at the SNCF, there is no risk of catching the Covid because we did things the right way”. It highlights the wearing of a mask, the disinfection of equipment and also ventilation in trains. But is the latter sufficient? To measure the renewal of air in a closed place, we must measure the level of CO2 that corresponds to the air we breathe out. The lower it is, the more air is renewed. The CEO of the SNCF ensures to be in the regulatory rail standards in force but they were set before the pandemic. Today, a CO2 level of 5,000 ppm is actually very high compared to the recommendations in the face of Covid-19.
Against Covid-19, the High Council of Public Health recommends a rate of less than 800 ppm in spaces open to the public. Many people have noticed much higher rates in TGVs. In addition, the ventilation system of the SNCF is debated. It works with one-third of outside air and two-thirds of air recycled in TGVs, but the air recycling system is not efficient enough according to some specialists. For its part, the Institut Pasteur published a report in which it explains that people who take a long-distance train have a risk of catching Covid-19, which increases by 30%.
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