It is just 8:30 am on the platforms of Rouen station (Seine-Maritime). Surrounded by a majority of pensioners, according to salt and pepper hair, Didier waits for his TGV to Lyon (Rhône). “Yes, I have heard of the changes in plans. And no, I don’t like it », he barely asks a first question asked. Textile accountant, he joins the city of Gos between once and twice a month. “For me it is the perfect time. I arrive at 12:30 I have the afternoon for my appointments. And above all I can work on the train without worrying about a connection. I also made the round trip in the same day.
Because this is the main advantage of the only Norman TGV that connects Le Havre and Rouen to the Rhône Valley and Marseille (Bouches du Rhône): a journey without having to go through the Paris box and having to reach Lyon station from Saint-Lazare . Because from the point of view of timetables, since it runs on standard tracks until the Paris exit, the travel time remains essentially the same as for other trains, even with correspondence.
To pour many travelers encountered this Wednesday morning, the announcement by the SNCF of the shift from 11 December to mid-afternoon line timetables – departing at 15:41 from Le Havre, to arrive at 22:24 in Marseille – is incomprehensible. Just like the return at 7:45 am from Saint-Charles station. “We are changing something that works well,” says Annick, who with her husband is going south to take care of her grandchildren near Toulon. “In these moments, we won’t have a connection. My daughter will have to commute. Because for this retired couple, having to get off in Paris would complicate the journey a lot.
A petition to save the line
The Norman elected officials also make the same observation. After the regional councilors, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol and Edouard Philippe, the mayors of Rouen and Le Havre, just picked up their pen to indicate to the SNCF CEO that these changes worried them. “Most users regret this decision, which was deemed incompatible with their needs,” they write. But above all, as expected by trade unions and user associations, these changes do not bode well for the future of this line. “In Rouen, as in Le Havre, we fear above all that this announcement will precede the abolition of our only Norman TGV.”
But for SNCF, which does not want to communicate its current presence for reasons of confidentiality “in a market now open to competition”, obviously these concerns have no reason to be. “Timetables are changing both for operational reasons and with the aim of attracting more passengers to this route”, indicates instead its communications department which adds, taking the situation on the other side of the objective, that this will be “more attractive. for travelers heading to Normandy at the weekend, allowing them to arrive in Le Havre or Rouen on Friday afternoon and leave on Sunday afternoon “.
Waiting for the arrival of these potential Marseille tourists, undoubtedly attracted by the Norman coolness, a petition is already online to request the safeguarding of this TGV. Since everyone fears him, a drop in attendance could doom him in the medium term, with no hope of seeing him return someday.