While the rest of Europe is wondering how to sell *more* international rail tickets, SNCF is doing the opposite from 23 May 🙄
@bilginveperk alerted me
Pretty simple international trips like
Paris - Verviers 🇧🇪
Paris - Rastatt 🇩🇪
can no longer be bought!
You can’t even get a price for Paris - Berlin after 23 May
WHAT THE HELL?
Pic 3 is their explanation
It takes something for SNCF to genuinely shock me. As anyone who follows me knows I consider it a malevolent company. But this is shocking.
What the HELL is stopping selling even simple international tickets *that they did previously sell*? Really WHY?
SNCF’s manifesto for the European elections - PDF https://www.groupe-sncf.com/medias-publics/2024-05/sncf-group-proposals-2024-2029.pdf?VersionId=TGBjeluX82z4KCPJu8Iytg8RqO3acZBW
“To attract more passengers, we are constantly seeking to improve the quality of our service and are investing heavily in all aspects of customer satisfaction. We have also made a joint commitment with our European partners to improve international ticketing.”
What does SNCF do? The opposite 😡
Also what’s the response going to be from staff in stations confronted by angry passengers in the summer tourist season?
At Breil-sur-Roya the other day the SNCF employee was happy to blame competition and liberalisation
But it isn’t that
This is a combination of SNCF not giving a damn about passengers, not giving a damn about anything international, and having crap IT. It’s ALL self inflicted. All.
@jon SNCF really needs a completely new management team, and a change in company culture. None of what they operate makes any sense at all.
@quixoticgeek * - doesn’t make sense to passengers. They’re good at optimising how many seats are full on each of their trains (which isn’t a useful measure if you’re a passenger!)
@jon yes. But they do that by running a bare minimum of trains. There seems to be no drive to do more. To improve anything. It's a "this is what we do, this is what we have always done, we will do no more, we may do less".
In many ways it feels like their timetables are an exercise in malicious compliance. There's certainly no logic to them.
@quixoticgeek Indeed. Which makes sense *for them* - max passengers on min number of trains. It’s crap as a passenger.
@jon i don't understand the total lack of aspiration. While all the other state operators are looking at expanding their international options. SNCF seem to just look blankly and ask "why would anyone ever want to leave France?"
Also given the french will happily riot over almost anything. Why is their not a mob with flaming torches at SNCF HQ?
@quixoticgeek (also take my posts with a pinch of salt - it doesn’t make sense to me either. But what I’m outlining is the only reasoning that sort of fits the facts)
There IS riots about railways, all the time, in France.
All those rail strikes in France are not for nothing. The state doesn’t invest much in the rail this also affects the working conditions of SNCF workers: -lower salaries than their european contreparts,
-more work accidents and less precautions about working security, less rights
-more exhausting working conditions because of obsolete and neglected infrastructure, rolling stock, equipments etc…
Meanwhile most european railways have modern locomotives and rolling stock, modern equipements for maintenance works, digitalised signalling…
@quixoticgeek because protection of monopoly, in return for accepting ever lower subsidy from the state, is central to SNCF approach. Run abroad and then those foreign firms will want to run into France.
As for the (lack of) riots: the population has long been fed the myth that TGV is a matter of national pride.