INVESTIGATION
Valérie Pécresse, president of the Ile-de-France region, and Guillaume Pépy, president of the SNCF, made the trip Wednesday morning at the Saint-Lazare station. The reason for their visit: the installation of new security gates and anti-fraud in the famous Parisian station. It's been three years since these portals were first installed, at the Montparnasse station in this case, a few months after the Thalys attack, in August 2015. Europe 1 conducted the survey to see the double promise security and fluidity was kept.
"A decline in fraud" ...
On the first point, the appearance seems positive, since there has been more train attacks since the Thalys. A total of 358 gantries are currently in operation in the 14 largest French stations. But safety is also the incivility on board the trains, caused 60% by people without a transport ticket, hence this will also fight against fraud.
Economically, each year, it is a shortfall of 300 million euros, all the same, for the SNCF. And the porticoes would lower the bill. "The observation we make every time we equip a station with gantries is an increase in the turnover of the station," says Alain Krakovitch, CEO of SNCF Transilien. "So it's obviously very, very variable from one station to the other, that's why it's always difficult to get figures on it, it means a decrease in fraud, and more people who will buy their ticket. "
... but a new type of fraud
The real efficiency remains to measure therefore, but the SNCF hopes that the new gantries, those inaugurated Wednesday in Saint-Lazare, will allow a little more to stem the fraud. These new devices are designed for the "Mass transit", the very important flow of passengers at peak times. 50,000 people an hour in Saint-Lazare use the suburban train network. Tests carried out this summer have shown that 37 people per minute could pass the gantries, it is 2 times more than for TGV gantries.
These devices will also better fight against fraud, by identifying anomalies such as for example a man who measures 1m90 and validates a child fare ticket. A warning light will come on and the staff present will be able to intervene. It is precisely this type of fraud that has developed with the arrival of the porticoes. "The zero fraud will never exist, it will always adapt.As to pass the gantry you need a ticket, some who went without a ticket end up taking a ticket as cheaply as possible, with a discount. go aboard because the portico has let them in, "says Stéphane, chef on board TGV Atlantic. "There, the control is necessary for this kind of fraud."
"A mass of people clinging to the portico"
Side passengers, the porticoes are far from unanimous. "There is always stress, everyone looking for his card and ticket before crossing the portico," pokes Justine, crossed at Montparnasse station, where the first porticoes were installed. "I was more often bored because there was a mass of people clambering in front of the portico.Although I was early, it's still a struggle to get to the end of the car. is the automation of the dehumanization, me that annoys me a lot, concludes the young woman.
And for others obviously, it became a habit ... passengers anticipate to avoid the very unpleasant scene of the train that is still on the platform, but 2 minutes from departure, the portico is blocked, impossible to pass. It is obviously annoying for those concerned, but SNCF side, it allows to leave more trains per hour: the regularity has increased by 5 points in the 14 French stations that are equipped with gantries.