If you have taken the train on one of the Normandy lines from or to Paris in recent days, you may have been confronted with delays, even cancellations. Many incidents took place, mainly “external causes” according to the SNCF; but user associations denounce a lack of anticipation on the part of the company.
“Intolerable travel conditions”
The latest example: this Wednesday morning. Before 7 a.m., due to a freight train breakdown between Vernon and Mantes-la-Jolie, several trains were delayed, sometimes more than an hour, and others were cancelled. Traffic was restored around 12:30 p.m. A recurring situation, denounced by many users.
The breakdown too many, for the four associations of users of the region, the Adurn, the UDUPC, Vernon Train de Vie and the Collectif BBB, which have sent this Wednesday afternoon a press release to the SNCF and the Normandy regionto denounce “intolerable travel conditions”.
The users are exhausted… Nervously, physically, family!
In this letter, they denounce the infrastructure problems, sometimes in too poor condition, which forces the company to run trains with fewer wagons than planned. Not to mention that material in good condition is often sent on another line, to compensate.
Twenty incidents since July 12
For its part, the SNCF has counted around twenty incidents on the lines since July 12, in particular because of the heat wave. “An accumulation of disturbances linked in 90% of cases to external causes: infrastructures that suffer from heat, shocks, fires near the tracks” explains Juliette de Beaupuis Daumas, director of territorial relations for the Normandy lines.
An insufficient explanation for the associations, which specify that, if the melting of a catenary is not foreseeable, the company could have anticipated the lack of resources to ensure smooth traffic trains while group 6 is no longer accessible, due to works in Mantes-la-Jolie. “All trains, TER and Transilien, go through the same track” explains Karine Maubé-Courteaut, the president of Adurn “so we knew that at the slightest problem, it’s over!”. A risk denounced since April, according to the letter.
Request for actions and compensation
Faced with these repeated problems, the associations are demanding three things in particular: respect for the composition of the trains, the return of the car to free placement on the main lines to allow subscribers to travel without compulsory reservation, and a 50% compensation for subscribers in July and August. On this last point, the SNCF gives them an appointment in September, in order to take stock of the summer period.
The associations indicate in their press release that they are suspending “any contribution with the Normandy region and the SNCF” as long as they have not won their case, while continuing to support and accompany users.