Train traffic will be “very severely disrupted” on Tuesday January 31 for the second day of mobilization against the pension reform, the SNCF announced on Sunday January 29. The disturbances will begin on Monday, from 7 p.m., and will last until Wednesday morning, around 6 a.m. The railway company plans in particular one TGV out of three on average, and two TER out of ten.
In detail, the SNCF plans two out of five TGVs for the North axis, one out of two in the East, one out of four for the Atlantic arc, one out of two in the South-East and two out of five for the Ouigo. Intercités trains will not run on Tuesday, with the exception of a Paris-Clermont, Paris-Limoges-Toulouse and Bordeaux-Marseille round trip. In Ile-de-France, one train in three will run on lines A, B, H and U, as well as one train in four on line K, and one train in ten for lines C and D (partly closed ), E, ??J, L, N, P and R, according to a statement.
The RATP, for its part, foresees “very disrupted traffic” on the RER and metro networks. On line 4, every second train will run during peak hours. Only during peak hours (7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.), one in three trains will run on line 7, one in three on line 7 bis, one in two on line out of four on the 12. Lines 3, 5, 8, 11 and 13 will only be open on one section and at peak times.
Finally, the RATP expects normal traffic with risk of saturation on lines 1 and 14. Traffic on the RER lines will also be “very disrupted”, with one RER A and RER B out of two on average at peak times. Bus and tram lines will only be “slightly disrupted”.
Towards the cancellation of one in five flights at Orly airport
On the international side, the trains will experience various fates: Eurostar and Thalys traffic will operate almost normally, but TGV traffic will be “severely disrupted” between France and Switzerland (Lyria). “The forecasts are broadly similar” to those of Thursday, January 19, which marked the first day of mobilization, SNCF said.
For air transport, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) asked airlines to preventively cancel one in five flights at Orly airport on Tuesday. “Despite these preventive measures, disruptions and delays are nevertheless to be expected,” said Civil Aviation. The other major airport in the Paris region, Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle, is not affected. Air France announced on Monday that it intended to cancel one in ten short and medium-haul flights, while long-haul routes will not be affected.
Sunday morning, the Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune, anticipated on RTL a “difficult, even very difficult day” on Tuesday. The minister advised: “All those who can organize themselves to telework, to postpone a trip, it’s better”, because “there will be strong disruptions”, commented the minister, interviewed in the radio show The Grand Jury.
“I’m going to do everything, with the SNCF, the RATP, the major public transport operators (…) to limit the impact on the daily life and travel of French people as much as possible, it won’t be great, but we will try to do the best. »
“Wasting holiday weekends is not serious”
In addition to Tuesday, the CGT has not ruled out actions on rail transport during the school holidays, which begin the weekend of February 4 for zone A. “We have the right to strike”, but ” spoiling the weekends of departure or return from vacation (…), it is not serious”, estimated Clément Beaune.
Asked also about the fire of electric cables in a signal box in Seine-et-Marne which caused the shutdown of the Gare de l’Est all day Tuesday and hampered traffic Wednesday, the minister spoke, like the SNCF, of “sabotage”, and “a very serious voluntary incident”. “It’s probably people who know how it works,” he said, without further details.
As part of the investigation opened by the Meaux prosecutor’s office (Seine-et-Marne), “everything is mobilized to find traces of fingerprints, and others”, knowing that “there was no video protection” at the location of the disaster, he added.
“L’Heure du Monde” podcast: Understanding everything about pension reform