The SNCF expects the summer of all records. While the company faces a very strong demand for tickets for the summer holidays, its CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou announced Thursday the addition of 500,000 additional places. “We are off to a record summer, even beyond 2019 (…) we have already sold eight million tickets for July and August is 10% more than in 2019, so we see a very strong push“, he declared on France 2, specifying that the SNCF was going “set up 500,000 additional places in the face of this success“.
“We’re on our toes, we’re adding oars, we’re doing double compositions with two oars at a time“, he added, welcoming the mobilization of railway workers to ensure the departure on vacation of the French people whom he called to take the train rather than their car by “citizen concern“. The trains are, according to Jean-Pierre Farandou, full on big departure days but “there are places left“outside these periods.
Tense social climate at SNCF
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 moves, the CEO acknowledged a “hard time“, particularly 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 only at the SNCF“particularly because of difficulties relating to purchasing power.
No increase in ticket prices at this time
On raising ticket prices for riders facing inflation, the CEO said he would “contradictory to want to develop traffic and to have high prices“and that, despite the increase in the price of electricity, the repercussion on the costs for the SNCF would not be”not too important” in 2022 through purchases made in advance. “For 2023, the question will arise“, according to Jean-Pierre Farandou.