Under the pressure of the opening to competition of its market since December 18, SNCF is launching its low-cost offensive. Faced with the battering of its competitor Trenitalia, in particular, which is positioning itself on the French lines, the company launched relatively slow classic trains on Monday, and marketed by a subsidiary under the Ouigo brand, on the Paris-Lyon and Paris-Lyon lines. Nantes.
To capture this clientele with low-cost offers, in a context of high inflation in France, the SNCF has also set up a specific subsidiary called Oslo (acronym for “Freely organized service offer”), attached to its Travelers vertical.
Up to 5 hour journey
In concrete terms, these “Ouigo Train Classique” trains use old Corail coaches that have been refreshed and coated in pink. The interior is quite disparate: some seats needed to be replaced, some cars have sockets…”We will go further in the interior renovation if we continue the experience”said Stéphane Blandin, director of development for Oslo, the subsidiary of SNCF Voyageurs which operates the new service.
SNCF Voyageurs (a company of the SNCF group) has indeed given itself two years to test the merits of the return of Corail trains on two axes already served by TGVs.
The company offers two daily round trips between Paris (Austerlitz or Bercy) and Lyon-Perrache, which take between 4 hours 45 and 5 hours 15, with stops in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges (from June), Melun, Dijon , Chalon-sur-Saône and Mâcon.
Unions take the lead
It takes between 3.5 hours and 4.15 hours to get from Paris-Austerlitz to Nantes, with three round trips per day passing through Le Mans or Tours, with stops respectively at Juvisy, Massy-Palaiseau, Versailles-Chantiers, Chartres , Le Mans and Angers, or Juvisy, Les Aubrais, Blois, Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, Saumur and Angers.
“We say yes to more trains, but the management chooses to produce them by subsidiaries”lamented Thomas Cavel, secretary general of the CFDT-Cheminots, denouncing “the lowest bidder on social conditions”.
“What will be applied to them (to the employees of Oslo) is the branch agreement for the organization of work. Which will lead them to work 15 to 20 days more per year”criticized Érik Meyer, federal secretary of SUD-Rail. “Our motto is to say that becoming a subsidiary is a betrayal!”
The low cost war
However, at the same time, competition is increasing. First foreign operator to compete with SNCF on the TGV in France, Trenitalia announced at the beginning of April that it had transported 150,000 travelers between Paris and Lyon since the launch in December of its two daily round trips.
The Paris-Lyon ticket from Trenitalia is offered from 23 euros in standard class, compared to 16 euros in Ouigo and 25 euros in TGV Inoui for the SNCF call prices, without a reduction card.
With five round trips per day from June, the SNCF’s leading competitor on the TGV in France since the opening to free-access competition in this sector in December 2020, will have increased the offer by 20% on the line, he underlined, the SNCF providing 24 daily round trips.
In addition to rail competition, the company must also hold off the offensives of road offers such as those of Flixbus coaches but also Blablacar carpooling.
(With AFP)
