By Emilie Salabelle
Published on
29 Apr 24 at 6:22 p.m.
Several days later, the anger is still as strong. The passengers of a TGV Lyria (Franco-Swiss train) linking Zürich to Paris Gare de Lyon rehash a journey which turned into nightmare Tuesday April 23, 2024. Beyond a 11 hour delay, the feeling of having been mishandled from start to finish predominates. After a technical problem forcing the passengers to get off at Basel, they were tossed around on both sides of the Franco-Swiss border by the services of the SNCF and the SBB CFF FFS (main Swiss railway company), before passing a ubiquitous night on a train at the platform, in freezing weather.
A breakdown a quarter of an hour after departure
Departing at 6:34 p.m. from Zurich station, the train was due to finish its journey at 11:47 p.m. in the Paris station. Fifteen minutes after departure, the convoy stops. After two unsuccessful attempts to reset the systems, the announcement came: the locomotive would not go further than Basel.
Among the passengers, many foreigners, mainly tourists, but also French and Swiss traveling or on business trips. Amira Mastouri, sales representative, is in the latter case. “I said to myself: ‘These things happen, they will find a solution for us’. » But the classic scenario of a delay which gets longer by the hour turns into a game of railway ping-pong.
Franco-Swiss fool’s game
After several hours of waiting without information, passengers were informed around 9:15 p.m. that they would not return to Paris this evening. On the way to France, they are ordered to get off at Mulhouse. On the platform, SNCF staff explain, quite embarrassed, that it is necessary return to Basel: the support should have been done on the Swiss side, the technical problem having occurred before the border, he assures. “I was confused and scandalized by the lack of communication between French and Swiss agents,” says Lucie, 24, who was going to visit her boyfriend in Paris.
General indignation will not change anything: if some decide to sleep at their own expense in Mulhouse, the bulk of the troops head back in the opposite direction, towards Basel. “We were in total uncertainty about being taken care of there too, it was abominable,” recalls Lucie.
An aggressive agent
It is almost midnight when the unlucky travelers find themselves back in the Swiss hall that they had left an hour and a half earlier. Only one agent is present, explaining laconically that the responsibility for taking care of the travelers fell to the French.
Tone up. A pregnant woman demands care, a father becomes exasperated, one of his children asleep on his shoulder. The overwhelmed agent then appeared aggressive and threatening, pounced on a protesting passenger, shoving the crowd, before being arrested by the indignant group. “I was troubled, exhausted, torn between anger and humiliation of this unworthy and inhumane treatment,” confides Nathalie, a traveler with a disability. “Revolted by this behavior, I called the police who refused to come. »
Contacted on this subject, the SBB responded to Paris news : “SBB will contact the employee in question to obtain their version of the facts. Such behavior does not meet our high expectations in terms of customer service.”
Sleepless night at the station
For any accommodation solution, the SBB CFF FFS brings a train to a platform. Travelers spend an almost sleepless night there. Outside, it’s 1°C, and the temperature in the trains is not very high. No meals are provided, only a bottle of water is distributed at one in the morning. “It was very difficult to sleep because of the light in the trains. I spoke a lot with passengers. There was an 18-year-old girl who had to interview to get into a prestigious architecture school the next day at 10:30 a.m.; a passenger had to return to Paris to see his father who is in palliative care…” says Lucie.
Amira Matsouri found a hotel on her own in Basel. “I had to walk alone in the night, with 30 kg of weight, I was very scared, very cold and I had a fever. The hotel was lousy, I couldn’t sleep,” she recalls. At 5:30 a.m., those sleeping on the train must evacuate the premises.
On this subject, the SBB CFF FFS explains: “In such a case, when transport by train is no longer possible, and if transport by bus or taxi is not possible, the CFF organizes hotel nights for the customers. This was unfortunately not possible for all TGV passengers, because the hotels were full that evening. This is why the last possible solution was to organize an emergency train to shelter customers overnight. »
Discomfort, fatigue and headaches
Some board a TER at dawn for Strasbourg, before catching a TGV for Paris. Others, like Amira Matsouri, are waiting for the proposed direct train at 8:34 a.m. “The train was full, but I absolutely needed to get home, I had no one to pick up my children from school that day. I sat down on the floor. I felt unwell 30 minutes before arriving in Paris (vomiting, blurred vision and low blood pressure). »
Since this trying journey, solidarity has been organized. On a Whatsapp group, passengers help each other to obtain a compensation commensurate with the railway fiasco. “For the moment, I have only been reimbursed for my train ticket which amounted to the modest sum of 20 euros…” Lucie is scandalized.
An internal investigation opened
When contacted, the TGV services of SNCF Voyageurs said they wereParis news“sincerely sorry for this incident encountered by the customers of this TGV Lyria”, before adding: “If cross-border rail relations are worked in full collaboration by the respective entities, this train could not pass that evening in France given the delay accumulated in Switzerland, causing it to come up against work on the French rail network.”
Also contacted, the CFF indicated “having launched a internal investigation in order to determine why customers could not be properly taken care of during this disruption” and admits: “We can already see that there were coordination problems between SNCF and CFF; we will resolve them in collaboration with our partners. »
Concerning the reimbursement of their customers, the Swiss rail services indicate that they are entitled to a reimbursement of their 150% ticketas well as “to cover their hotel costs”.
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