The Montparnasse station continues to be disrupted after the gigantic electrical incident affecting a RTE substation. SNCF plans four trains out of five on Thursday.
The SNCF said Wednesday that it planned four trains out of five at the start and finish of the Montparnasse station on Thursday , confirming a “gradual return to normal” after the manager of the high-voltage network RTE was able to restore power electric of this big Parisian station.
The public company “has yet to adapt its transport plan and cancel some of its trains for reasons of availability of equipment” because the maintenance center TGV Chatillon (Hauts-de-Seine) was also victim of the cut of electricity from Friday noon to Monday evening.
“All SNCF teams remain mobilized (…), to be able to offer a normal level of service on Friday,” the company added in a statement, on a tone more optimistic than the day before.
COMMUNIQUÉ DE PRESSE | INCENDIE POSTE RTE
“Retour progressif à la normale sur les lignes Atlantique” #Montparnasse #sncf pic.twitter.com/TOjNbhWb3z
— Groupe SNCF (@GroupeSNCF) 1 August 2018
Whatever happens, she promises, “every day at 5pm, the application and the site sncf.com display the trains that circulate the next day”.
“Customers who have provided their contact details are contacted by email and SMS if their train is cancelled,” she says.
Tickets for trains cancelled or more than three hours late are refunded 100%, but only passengers with a ticket for trains running may borrow.
The fire of a power station supplying Montparnasse last Friday had forced the SNCF to use a substation normally dedicated to the Versailles area, which allowed it to operate the station at a minimum with 40% of the power. electricity while RTE was working to restore power.
“A great fragility in the power supply at Montparnasse station”
RTE (EDF group) restored Monday night a temporary high voltage connection with the station and maintenance center TGV. They had three links before the fire, which raises fears of other incidents at the SNCF before the end of repairs.
“What this incident revealed is a great fragility in the power supply of the Montparnasse station,” lamented Minister of Transport Elisabeth Borne in the National Assembly .
“Nobody can understand such fragility, and the government does not accept it”.
The minister recalled that the government had launched a fact-finding mission “to understand why there are no alternatives in the event of a breakdown on a TEN station, and especially to learn from them”.
“I can assure you that I will not wait for it to happen elsewhere, so all the major stations will be examined,” she said, adding that she expects the results of this investigation as soon as possible. end of August.
