The SNCF advises travellers to give up the train after 7pm, Monday 2nd April, because of the strike. 36 days of disturbances are expected until the end of June.
The SNCF has advised Friday travelers to forgo taking the train from 19h Monday. Time to start a strike that “will disturb much” traffic, according to group boss Guillaume Pepy.
“The strike will greatly disrupt the life of the French, I regret. There will be very few trains leaving after 19:00 Monday. Everyone must take precautions.”
Guillaume Pépy de la @SNCF : “On publiera dimanche matin la liste des trains annulés lundi soir pour la #grève” #le79Inter @ndemorand pic.twitter.com/navA4nMtUZ
— France Inter (@franceinter) 30 March 2018
The CGT (1st group union), Unsa (2nd) and CFDT (4th) called the railway to strike from Monday at 7pm until 8am Thursday. This is the first of the two-day strike notice that they could file until the end of June to oppose the reform of SNCF wanted by the government.
SUD Rail (3rd union) has also filed a notice of indefinite strike, renewable by 24 hours, which will begin at 8pm Monday.
The particular Intercités lines affected
“The SNCF recommends to each of the travellers who had planned to travel Monday night, either to give up this trip, to postpone it, or on the contrary to return earlier, or to choose another mode of transport (…) The movement will be probably followed very well, “said Pepy. “There are people who have to return very late Monday night and have to cancel,” he warned.
In a statement, the SNCF said that these precautions should be taken “in particular on Intercités lines”. The group recalls that the agents can declare themselves strikers “at the latest 48 hours before” the beginning of the strike.
“Once these statements are known,” the group will be able to “build a precise plan for the circulation of trains” and will communicate “at the latest” at 5pm on Sunday “all forecasts of traffic, train by train” for Monday evening and Tuesday.
These forecasts will be “put online in real time, and constantly updated, on sncf.com and the SNCF app,” promises the group.
Mr. Pepy spoke Friday morning assumptions of “one train in five or one in eight” circulating during the strike as “a possible range” and noted that some unions even mentioned one train in ten. “Under these conditions we will not be able to transport all passengers,” he said.
The second strike notice of the trio CGT, Unsa and CFDT, on April 8 and 9, must be filed Saturday. The two-day, two-day strike by these three unions is announced until June 28.
