The Toulon guard hall displays good attendance. It’s 9:30 a.m. and a good hundred travelers have their noses glued to the departures and arrivals screens where the words “late” flashes next to all matches.
On the microphone, an SNCF agent announces a resumption of traffic around 11 a.m., explaining that it is “a power supply fault due to a personal accident” which causes these cascading delays. Not without consequences for most of the people stuck.
Laëtitia has been there since 5:45 a.m. to go to her Marseille high school where she works as an educational assistant. “I was just told that I will have salary deduction if I arrive after 12:30 p.m.she says with a crestfallen expression. Me who is always on time, even early…“
In an emergency, the SNCF provided a bus around 10 a.m. to reach Saint-Charles station where everything is moving. Hervé, a construction worker, was unable to attend. “There were 200 people for 50 places so it was quickly full“, he grumbled as he had to take the 7:54 a.m. TGV to honor a construction site meeting in a Parisian hotel. “I travel a lot so I'm used to it, but since I'm self-employed, I lost a day of work “.
Relativize
Rita and Paul lost 200 euros corresponding to their Marseille – London flight scheduled for 1 p.m. Rita, a German based in Toulon and specialized in sustainable business development, will be able to participate in her meeting in “visio” when Paul, a Dutch teacher, will try to reach Groningen this Thursday to give his students an exam the next day. “We will rebook tickets online in the afternoon hoping that there is a flight available “, they put things into perspective.
-It was a little after 11 a.m. when a train to Nice and then a bus to Les Arcs were announced. 11:07 a.m.: a TER for Marseille appears on track B on the departures screen. A crowd movement begins, quickly caught up by the pass. “The display is automatic, you have to wait for the announcements on the microphone “, concedes an agent.
About fifteen minutes later, traffic slowly begins to resume.
Lasha, a Georgian English teacher, is relieved. He may well go to Mulhouse to celebrate the birthday of Louise, his girlfriend. “Can you post my apologies because I had planned a surprise around 6 p.m. but I won't arrive until 10 p.m.?“The message got through.
