three questions on the replacement of CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou, announced by the government

Jean-Pierre Farandou will be replaced in his role at the end of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris. The decision, announced Tuesday by the government, is controversial.

End of journey in sight for Jean-Pierre Farandou. The government announced on Tuesday, May 7, that the CEO of SNCF would not be renewed at the end of his mandate, which expires on May 13. However, he will only leave his position at the end of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, “in order to guarantee good organization” of the event, said the executive. But this departure is particularly controversial, following the signing of an agreement on the end of his career at the SNCF. An agreement that Jean-Pierre Farandou defended during his hearing in the Senate on Tuesday. Franceinfo takes stock.

Is this decision linked to the controversy surrounding an agreement on the end of career?

Two versions clash. The railway workers’ unions seem convinced that Jean-Pierre Farandou is the victim of a sanction, of a punishment and that he serves as “fuse” according to Sud Rail. From a government source, this is a simple unfortunate clash of the calendar since an announcement was needed before the annual general meeting of the SNCF holding company, scheduled for next Monday, on the renewal or not of the mandate of Jean-Pierre Farandou. The latter would also have reached, in July 2025, the age limit of 68 years to manage a public company.

According to our information, from several sources, the decision to replace him and let him do a sort of interim until the end of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, had in any case already been taken, for at least a few days. A decision reminiscent of that, in March, concerning Augustin de Romanet, the president of the ADP group, formerly Aéroports de Paris, without the precise end of this sort of interim being very clear today: in September or possibly a few months later .

Why is this agreement generating so much comment?

Perhaps because the boss of the SNCF made the mistake of rejoicing too much at the signing of the four railway unions. Some of these unions have publicly claimed that this agreement would somehow mitigate the effects of pension reform. The idea was to respond to long-standing demands – in particular from controllers who had led two hard strikes during the 2022 Christmas holidays and then during the last February holidays – by taking into account the arduousness of the professions.

This offered drivers and controllers the possibility of no longer working, from 15 or even 18 months before their retirement date, while remaining paid by the company at 75% of their salary excluding bonuses. This end-of-career agreement is “reasonable, balanced and useful”said Jean-Pierre Farandou during his hearing Tuesday in the Senate. “My conviction is that it is a good agreement, which does not circumvent the law on pensions, which is in the practices of large public and private companies”, he added. The CEO of SNCF also refuted having negotiated this agreement in secret and claimed to have informed the Ministry of Transport and Matignon.

What results for Jean-Pierre Farandou at SNCF and who to succeed him?

Appointed in 2019 then reappointed in 2020 for a four-year term, following the railway reform, Jean-Pierre Farandou seemed relatively appreciated internally for his career as a pure railway worker, starting as a station manager, and for his desire to develop the railway. He could also boast of good financial results, with historic profits of 2.4 billion euros for the SNCF group in 2022 then 1.3 billion euros last year. Profits which made it possible to finance numerous investments, starting with the regeneration of the network and the purchase of new trains such as the famous TGV M, expected for the second half of 2025.

His mandate was also marked by several crises, starting with that of the Covid-19 pandemic, which stopped trains for several months and required the organization of health trains to transport the sick in the country. Several names have already circulated in recent months about his succession, sometimes followed by denials, including those of former Prime Ministers Jean Castex and Elisabeth Borne.