A little more than 150 people responded to the call from the CGT railway workers to participate in a rally on Thursday morning at Retournac station and protest against the SNCF Réseau project.
Fall 2022, SNCF Réseau announced its intention to eliminate three traffic officer positions who carry out both the opening of the station counter and switching missions, at Retournac station. This project was dismissed out of hand by the president of the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes region, Laurent Wauquiez, who put forward economic arguments. “The financing of the TER is 30% through ticket sales and 70% through regional subsidies. We (the Region, editor's note) have invested 100 million euros on the Le Puy/Firminy line to rehabilitate it, this is not to now see the ticket offices close for half their operating hours. »
The President of the Region announces the maintenance of the ticket office at Retournac station
The argument had upset the SNCF and the matter remained there. But, two years later, the file came out of the closets and made the CGT railway workers roar.
In a press release, SNCF Réseau Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes mentions “an organizational development project” concerning the Retournac station, “which would be implemented on June 1, 2025. Currently, SNCF Réseau traffic agents (they manage incidents, triggering of safety net zones, engine failures on trains, unforeseen train crossings linked to traffic delays, etc.) cover the entire range of service at the train station Retournac, in 2 shifts of 8 hours. “To meet the economic performance objectives of the rail system, the position of Retournac traffic agent would be held in 1 shift of 8 hours in the evening, from Monday to Friday (except public holidays) and Monday morning (except public holidays) . Consequently, the morning periods from Tuesday to Saturday and the evening periods on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays would no longer be provided by an SNCF Réseau agent from June 1, 2025, but by an SNCF Voyageurs agent to maintain the service. customer relations. It is planned that an SNCF Voyageurs agent “maintains the customer relations department. » “Some marginal adaptations” and reductions in the opening hours of the passenger building and the ticket office would be necessary. »
“With the same number of trains per day, there is the same workload”: new threat to this Haute-Loire station
“It’s management smoke and mirrors,” denounces the CGT railway workers through Joris Leclercq, a CGT member whose position is threatened by the project. The latter explains that the idea is “to eliminate 2 positions (a traffic agent and a reserve agent) out of 5 who work at the station. We do not understand the economic benefit of replacing a traffic agent with a counter agent, created by SNCF Voyageurs. But this is a one-year fixed-term contract position. » What the railway workers fear is that at the end of this fixed-term contract, “it will be the elimination of counter hours. Their goal in all this is to make the company more attractive before privatization. » “Tomorrow, without an agent at Retournac station, there will be no way to manage unexpected train crossings due to delays and this will result in train cancellations. »
The mayor of Retournac Patricia Goudard wore her tricolor scarf on Thursday at Retournac station. “On paper, the project might seem acceptable, unfortunately I understand that what they are proposing is only temporary. » Opposition regional councilor Renaud Daumas (Les Écologues) also took the floor to explain that “it is possible to put fast trains on this route to go to Le Puy/Saint-Étienne in 1 hour 05 minutes and offer an alternative to the RN 88.”
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Celine Demars
