The star of the summer will undoubtedly be the train.

With a reservation level at the end of June 10% higher than that, already record, of 2019 on the same date, before the Covid-19 pandemic, the SNCF even confirmed to expect a "record summer".

Some 100,000 children should, for example, benefit from “Junior & Cie”, the support service for children traveling alone by train, until August 28.

Excellent attendance of TER trains, on the heels of the spring weekends, busy departures on July 8-9, during the July 14 bridge and for the major crossovers, it is also a summer under tension and with a millimetric schedule which is announced.

To prevent the machine from seizing up at the slightest incident, the SNCF therefore wants to hunt for forgotten luggage.

As of Saturday, it will offer a new label with a QR code on the TGV Atlantique and Sud-Est.

Travelers will be asked to scan the QR code with their smartphone to enter their contact details, which only SNCF agents will be able to recover in case their luggage is abandoned, the company said on Thursday.

A potentially valuable tool in the fight against forgotten luggage, the leading cause of delays for TGVs and Intercités with 620,000 minutes lost in 2021 according to SNCF.

Railway workers warn of the state of infrastructure

800 TGVs and Intercités should run every day, slightly more than in 2019 (+2% for TGVs).

"All available trains will be in circulation," insisted the public company, while many trains are already full or have become very expensive without a discount card.

In this regard, the secretary general of the CGT Cheminots Laurent Brun was worried about this just-in-time operation during the summer.

"We are worried about the maintenance of the trains because there is no reserve of equipment, the slightest failure therefore produces dramatic effects," he said in a message sent to AFP.

“The state of our infrastructure is deteriorating due to lack of government investment and, with the hot weather, there is an increased risk of signaling failures or the oldest catenaries falling,” he added. , pointing more generally to a lack of staff in the public group.

A spokesperson for the SNCF wanted to be reassuring: “the train maintenance plan is robust and adapted to this reinforced traffic”.

“Our transport plan and (…) our maintenance for this summer have been organized for several months and make it possible to ensure the circulation of the maximum of our train fleet in absolute compliance with our priorities, which go to safety, reliability and quality of service for our customers,” he explains.

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