French Train Strike advice

[coupwotcoup]

Does anyone have any advance news [re strikes] come September/October?

 

[davetheguard]

I wonder how many passengers and freight costumers will stay away permanently.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who specifically hasn't booked a holiday to France or travelled via French Railways to elsewhere this year as a result. But I'm sure I'll be back once SNCF become reliable again. Unfortunately, I fear the same may not happen on the freight side if what I've heard and read about the reputation of Fret SNCF is correct.

 

[181]

Does anyone have any advance news [re strikes] come September/October?

I was wondering the same -- I was considering going to Switzerland/northern Italy in September, and while I wouldn't need to use any SNCF trains per se, just Eurostar, TGV Lyria and possibly Thello, they presumably depend on SNCF signalmen etc. and maybe drivers (even if their own employees aren't on strike). I've looked at various websites (Eurostar, SNCF, Seat61, Loco2.com, TGV Lyria and Thello), and the only information I can find is this from 9th July which suggests that everything is now back to normal -- but this thread suggests otherwise -- and this which says that Lyria were due to be running normally during an SNCF strike on 26/27 July, but implies that they were affected by some of the earlier strikes.

Does anyone know how affected the international services were on the strike days? My only previous experience of a French strike was in September 2010, when Eurostar got me to Paris without a problem; the night train to Munich was cancelled, but I was in time to get an unaffected evening ICE to Frankfurt to connect with the Cologne-Vienna night train.

I probably won't be in a particular hurry, so I could go the long way round through Germany, but unless I go the even longer way round via the Harwich ferry, or can find a bus from Calais into Belgium, this would still require Eurostar to be operating reasonably OK on the Brussels route.

 

[davetheguard]

I was wondering the same -- I was considering going to Switzerland/northern Italy in September, and while I wouldn't need to use any SNCF trains per se, just Eurostar, TGV Lyria and possibly Thello, they presumably depend on SNCF signalmen etc. and maybe drivers (even if their own employees aren't on strike). I've looked at various websites (Eurostar, SNCF, Seat61, Loco2.com, TGV Lyria and Thello), and the only information I can find is this from 9th July which suggests that everything is now back to normal -- but this thread suggests otherwise -- and this which says that Lyria were due to be running normally during an SNCF strike on 26/27 July, but implies that they were affected by some of the earlier strikes.

Does anyone know how affected the international services were on the strike days? My only previous experience of a French strike was in September 2010, when Eurostar got me to Paris without a problem; the night train to Munich was cancelled, but I was in time to get an unaffected evening ICE to Frankfurt to connect with the Cologne-Vienna night train.

I probably won't be in a particular hurry, so I could go the long way round through Germany, but unless I go the even longer way round via the Harwich ferry, or can find a bus from Calais into Belgium, this would still require Eurostar to be operating reasonably OK on the Brussels route.

With regard to your last point -about Eurostars to Belgium on SNCF strike days- I travelled to Germany and back via Brussels in June; both the outward travel day and the day coming back were strike days in France, but Eurostar trains to/from Brussels ran as normal.

 

[daikilo]

Does anyone have any advance news [re strikes] come September/October?

As far as I am aware, none of the unions involved in the previous strikes have advised of actual dates for any in the future, however, this autumn is likely to be fractious if the government sticks to its plans!

 

[Railman10]

My experience is that, latterly, support for strikes has been reducing. I changed to air for a planned trip to Nice on 12th June but in fact my planned Eurostar and SNCF trains operated (but I got my money back beforehand!).
I avoided SNCF for a trip to Switzerland last month by taking the 'classic' route via Cologne and the Rhine (very pleasant on EC9, a Swiss train with panorama car!). Friends in France travelled from Rochefort to Beziers two weeks ago on what was supposed to be a strike day and had no problems. SBB friends in Basel tell me that Lyria services haven't been affected recently. With luck, the Unions will soon realise that they will not achieve their aims through such disruptive strike action!

 

[squizzler]

Unfortunately, I fear the same may not happen on the freight side if what I've heard and read about the reputation of Fret SNCF is correct.

And I believe the open access scene there is quite well developed...

 

[181]

I asked loco2.com, and they just said that everything was back to normal (I hope it stays that way) and if a train was delayed I should be allowed to travel on the next one free of charge. They didn't really answer one of my questions, so I'll see what anyone here can say:

If disruption to services beyond Paris, announced after I'd booked but before I'd travelled, meant that I wanted to change my outward Eurostar booking to a different train, a different day or a different route, is it likely that Eurostar would be sympathetic? Or would they just say that they could get me to Paris at the time they said they would and what happened next was my problem?

 

[squizzler]

Not to sound too cavalier, but I reckon you just got to take the plunge. The likelihood of further strikes is greatly diminished because the law change that the strike was intended to prevent has come to pass.

I think your odds of a seamless journey are much better now than if you had brought a ticket with Ryanair!

 

[daikilo]

French media reporting possible CGT union strike on 18 September, which is the day future "convention collective" conditions are to be reviewed. Possible "national" strike on 9 October.

 

[duesselmartin]

French media reporting possible CGT union strike on 18 September, which is the day future "convention collective" conditions are to be reviewed. Possible "national" strike on 9 October.

Has this info become more definite?
Thanks
Martin

 

[daikilo]

Has this info become more definite?
Thanks
Martin

According to this posted 12/9, it will now just be demonstrations:
https://www.linternaute.com/sortir/...-des-perturbations-de-trafic-le-18-septembre/