Paris (AFP)

The opening to the competition of the railroad enters a more concrete phase, the regions which wish it could from Tuesday pass tenders to entrust part of their TER to an operator other than the SNCF.

This formal deadline collides with the strike against the pension plan, which promises to be massive, including the SNCF, from December 5.

"This is an experimental site that will open," says David Valencia, vice president of transport of the Great East, who is ready to embark on the adventure. He envisions "something progressive", a process that can be improved over time.

Its objective: to save "maybe 15 to 20% in operation, to reinvest in additional train orders".

Imposed by a European directive, the competition will be mandatory from 25 December 2023 for public transport subsidized by the public authorities, at the end of the contract linking them to the SNCF.

Meanwhile, the regions that wish will be able to choose another company to operate certain lines, provided they have provided in their agreement with the incumbent a "detachable coupon" providing this option.

Unless hesitation last minute, the first three regions to take the plunge will be the Grand Est, the Hauts-de-France and PACA, followed a little later by the Pays-de-la Loire. They will be accompanied by the State, which is subject to the same rule for the Intercités it subsidizes, and wants to open the Nantes-Bordeaux and Nantes-Lyon lines to competition.

In any case, the first "competition trains" should not be running until the end of 2022, given the time required for the response to the call for tender, the designation of the winner and the preparation for the transition. .

"We want + challenger + the SNCF, because we are not happy with its operation.It gives every day the impression of not listening to us," notes the vice president for transport in the Hauts-de-Seine. France, Franck Dhersin.

- "Limited risk" -

The elected officials regularly criticize the public group for its lack of flexibility, its total lack of transparency in the accounts, its high costs, its inability to plan the work, its unwillingness to communicate data on the lines, and of course the closure of the wickets , unsuitable schedules, canceled trains, delays, strikes ...

SNCF is starting to make its aggiornamento, promising to be more open, closer to the territories, and improve its service. Its TER leadership has also launched a vast "transformation plan" which seems to have halted the spiral of decline.

"For TER, there is a risk," admitted Wednesday the new boss of the public group Jean-Pierre Farandou, in front of railway workers during a visit Gare Saint-Lazare in Paris.

"But this risk is limited," he said. Of the 10 to 12% of networks that regions will open to competition, "we will win half, so at worst we will lose 5-6%, it is not very serious," he said.

All TERs currently carry 1 million passengers per day - as well as the only line B of the Paris RER.

The President of the Transport Regulatory Authority (ART) Bernard Roman observes "a number of constants" in European countries that have already opened their regional lines to private.

"The modal share of rail has progressed everywhere," he says. "Quality of service has grown everywhere, the historic business has changed everywhere, and the historic business is doing better everywhere."

In Germany, for example, Deutsche Bahn has kept only two-thirds of the regional market 25 years after its opening, but its activity has increased.

"If the cake grows faster than the number of actors who get around the table to eat it increases, then the opening of the market will not be a problem", concluded the boss of the TER at the SNCF, Frank Lacroix .

This cake will weigh about 5 billion euros in 2020, he says. The regions contribute three-quarters of the sum, in addition to their investments in rolling stock and the renovation of railways.

© 2019 AFP