Are we going to attend a “dark week” in rail transport? The CEO of SNCF Travelers, Christophe Fanichet, wants to be reassuring: “There will be no week at a stop, but a week as normal as possible”. He ensures that TGV circulation will be “normal from Monday May 5 to Thursday May 8”.
Conversely, the striking unions announce “very strong” disturbances, especially for the May 8 bridge. “It promises to be very strong on May 9, 10, 11 for the controllers,” warned Fabien Villedieu, Federal South-Rail secretary. The peak of the movement is expected from Thursday.
“The strike could stop”
The CGT-Cheminots, the first union organization at the SNCF, called on controllers and drivers to go on strike this Monday while Sud-Rail simply called on its sales agents to mobilize. However, he calls for maintenance workers to mobilize on Tuesday and drivers on Wednesday. The unions are demanding better remuneration, as well as a change in the organization of work.
On claims, the CEO of SNCF Travelers promised better readability on weekly rest while refusing to increase the remuneration: “We did the job, more than 2.2 % for 2025, it is much more than inflation,” he said. For his part, Axel Persson, secretary general CG-Cheminots de Trappes and Rambouillet assured that the “strike could stop” if the SNCF “came to access the claims or a satisfactory compromise”.
Disturbed traffic on TER and RER
For the moment, only regional traffic seems to be affected by the movement. The SNCF has announced disturbances in New Aquitaine, Occitania, Hauts-de-France, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Burgundy-Franche-Comté or in the Center-Val de Loire region. In the North and Pas-de-Calais, one in three will not circulate. In Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, nearly 50 trains have been deleted.
In Ile-de-France, the RERs are difficult to circulate. For RER B and its million daily travelers, traffic is “strongly disturbed” with only one train in two planned on the northern part of the line and two out of three trains on the southern part of the line. RER C and lines N, U and V are also disturbed.
Refundable or exchangeable tickets
If Christophe Fanichet wants to be optimistic for this strike week, he still committed to “warn” customers in the event of a breach. Any train cancellation will be communicated to customers, by email or SMS, at least two days before departure. “We are committed to giving freedom and choice to our customers,” he said. As such, the SNCF offers the possibility of being “exchanged or reimbursed, without expenses” its TGV incomplete or Ouigo train tickets for the week from May 5 to 11.
