Now it’s official: the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region disbanded the SNCF on Thursday and let the private group Transdev operate one of its railway lines, becoming the first region in France to end its public monopoly, amid the dissatisfaction of the great trade unions.
Unsurprisingly, the elected officials operated the Marseille-Toulon-Nice line through Transdev with an absolute majority, thus excluding the current public operator, but the latter retained the second batch of operations.
Only the national assembly voted against it, believing that “these competitions are too hasty.” Since it withdrew between the two rounds of regional elections in June, in order to avoid a possible victory for RN, the leftists missed the semicircle in the region.
“This is a historic step and the first in France”, welcoming the President of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Renaud Muselier (Les Républicains), who is the first region to comply with European laws. The law to compete for railway traffic will apply to all regions from December 2023.
The operator change will take effect on this link from July 2025. In terms of the number of trains provided, the link involves 10% of regional traffic, and its 10-year concession contract is estimated to be 870 million euros. The region will also invest 275 million euros for the purchase of 16 new trains and maintenance work.
“Traffic will double”, from 7 round trips per day to 14 round trips, depending on the region. Renaud. Muzzle explained: “In addition to the increase in the quotation (…), we also judged the quotations for the services, crew, comfort, and safety provided to users, not just based on financial standards. “
As a result of the merger of Transdev and Veolia Transport in 2011, Transdev transports 11 million passengers every day by bus, coach or train. Since Deutsche Bahn ended its monopoly in 1994, the group has become the second largest group in the German railway sector.
-“We are waiting to see”-
On Thursday, at the appeal of CFDT, South and FO, about 200 railway workers equipped with smoke demonstrated in front of the district committee, condemning Mathieu Inaudi’s “withdrawal of public services for many years”: “We are doing this for the purpose. Defend the competition”, condemned the union member CFDT, “sad, angry and worried”.
At the request of CGT, the second rally is scheduled to be held on Friday.
Agence France-Presse questioned Judge Axel at the Saint Charles station in Marseille, “This is a game that can make a difference and allow the SNCF to question itself.” Although the soldier enjoyed a preferential price, he gave up the train journey between Marseille and Toulon, where his wife lives, due to “multiple delays and cancellations”: “My hierarchy does not accept my absence.”
According to data from the Transportation Quality Service Administration, from October 2020 to September 2021, the punctuality rate of TERs in circulation was 92.5%, and an average of 302 TERs and about 12,500 trains (2, 3%) were cancelled every month. In 2016, according to data from the region, 20% of trains were delayed and 10% of trains were cancelled.
“I ran into problems during a long trip, but it didn’t matter on TER.” Christelle, a nuanced Christelle, brought TER to Marseille for treatment. “Generally speaking, when we are privatized, it does not augur well…”, worried people in their forties, like many questioned travelers, said, “Wait to see the new operator “Whether it will do better.
The area also maintains the SNCF’s operations on the “Azur” line, including Les Arcs / Draguignan (Var) and Vintimille (Italy) and the connection line between Nice-Tende and Cannes-Maritimes (Alpes-Maritimes). ), of which the listed company is the only disputed company.
The second batch is estimated to be 1.5 billion euros (23% of regional traffic), and it has been approved for 10 years from December 2024. But SNCF retained it through a subsidiary, which Ali expressed regret on Thursday. -FO Regional Secretary Jean Bram condemned the “fragmentation” of incumbents in the face of open competition and the risk of agents losing their status.