INTERVIEW
How will SNCF recover from a third crisis in three years? After the pearl strikes of spring 2018, the mobilization against the pension reform, the blast of the coronavirus has again hit the railway group. The losses generated by the shortfall in confinement are currently around three billion euros. And to start again, the company should quickly offer low prices, says Gilles Dansart, railway specialist and director of the Mobilettre site.
"The SNCF's problem is not to make very high fares, but to encourage people to come back on the trains", explains the specialist, who recalls that after the strikes against the pension reform, the SNCF had announced as of February of the broken prices. But when could these prices be communicated? "From next week, probably," anticipates Gilles Dansart.
The challenge of filling trains
Because the SNCF has a crucial need to see its trains largely occupied: the group, "at filling rates below 60%, is losing money", specifies the director of Mobilettre. "It is absolutely necessary that there are people on the trains and therefore there will be call prices to encourage the French to return. That will be the stake for the next few weeks."
But to make the company more sustainable, SNCF cannot just limit losses at first. It must also and above all "re-establish a relationship of trust" with users so that they do not find the "car reflex".