In 2018, the railway workers of the SNCF fought, for two months, during a historic strike against the privatization, and therefore the competition, of the rail network.

The reform is now over.

And three years later, the SNCF keeps, for the moment, its monopoly on the French rails.

The theme is at the heart of the regional elections: transport.

They often represent the largest budget in a region.

Since the 2018 rail reform, followed by the historic strike for more than two months by railway workers, TER trains are potentially open to competition.

But for now, the changes seem to be long overdue.

"Files of thousands of pages to constitute"

Will the SNCF see its monopoly decrease on regional trains?

This seems inevitable in the long term even if, for the moment, the big big bang of the competition is still far away!

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The government had first tried with the Nantes / Lyon and Nantes / Bordeaux lines.

The only candidate in the running to exploit them was none other than… the SNCF!

The same goes for the first call for tenders in the South region, the star of Nice.

"It takes time because there are files of thousands of pages to be put together," explains Arnaud Aymé, transport specialist at Sia Partners.

According to him, these documents are "given to the various candidates to explain the traffic data, past turnover, operating constraints etc."

The division of the TER network

Another obstacle to the deployment of competition in the rail network: the "tactical" aspect.

The sale of network operations is done in batches, explains Arnaud Aymé.

It is therefore necessary to imagine the division of these lots in the regions before being able to make calls for tenders on the TER network.

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For now, the SCNF therefore remains at work.

And the traffic may be somewhat disrupted this summer: the CGT Cheminots has just submitted a strike notice for July 1.

She calls for an increase in wages, hiring and "real negotiations for a high level social status".