Jean-Pierre Farandou was chosen by the Élysée to suck Guillaume Pépy at the head of the SNCF.
A page turns to the SNCF. After more than 11 years of reign, a record, Guillaume Pepy will give way at a critical moment for the company.
The future boss of the SNCF, Jean-Pierre Farandou, mining engineer, has an asset: it is a pure product of the house. He started as a station manager in Rodez, he took care of projects like the TGV Paris-Lille, he went through the human resources and he was also boss of the daily trains, TER, Transilien. Currently, he manages Keolis, SNCF's public transport subsidiary. He says he speaks "railway first language" and he will need it at the head of this empire of 270,000 employees and 33 billion turnover.
A fragile and socially explosive empire?
The reform has passed. As of January 1, there will be no hiring status. But the hard part remains to be done. We will have to negotiate a new social pact while there is overstaffing. That the activity Freight is on the verge of filing for bankruptcy, it will be the biggest file of the next months. That competition comes from the end of next year, ie tomorrow! Finally, even if no boss of the SNCF will ever admit it, the shareholder, that is to say the State, is itself a problem. The state is incoherent, it requires for example both the profitability and the maintenance of all TGV stations because elected officials require it. He wants reforms and social peace. Guillaume Pepy has held more than 11 years in this context. A performance…