The strike against the pension reform this winter and the epidemic due to the coronavirus made lose "more than four billion euros to the SNCF", said Thursday the Secretary of State for Transport Jean-Baptiste Djebbari. After the strike which cost a billion, additional costs linked for example to the search for a substitute for glyphosate to weed the ways and especially, with the epidemic, the collapse of the number of passengers and costly sanitary measures, losses for SNCF, are evaluated "in total, to date today, just over 4 billion euros," he said on Franceinfo.
SNCF does not comment
Requested by AFP, the SNCF did not comment on these figures.
"All the transport operators are in a phase where they have made a lot of losses", with little revenue, he noted. No question however of increasing the prices according to him, "we do not catch up with customers".
"The State will be present"
Discussions on the financial situation of transport operators will take place "once we are able to make a solid, quantified assessment of the losses of SNCF, RATP and the State has said that it will be present" , he assured. "From the start of the school year, we will probably have the capacity to draw up an almost objective assessment," added Jean-Baptiste Djebbari.
The elected officials in charge of public transport, gathered within the Grouping of the organizing transport authorities (Gart), ask that the State compensates for the 4 billion euros of loss of income due to the coronavirus, of which a good half in Ile-de- France. While the supply of transportation declined significantly during containment, ridership collapsed much more, which increased costs per passenger transported.
Possible job cuts
SNCF does not rule out job cuts. According to Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, "there will be a discussion with the unions, not so much on job cuts but on the adjustment of recruitments, non-replacements. There is a duty to assess reality and the situation".