Paris (AFP)

"For the group to go well, the TGV must be better": The recovery of the SNCF, to which the Covid-19 could lose nearly 5 billion euros this year, will require the relaunch of its fetish train , assures its CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou.

"We are in negative this year. We are going to end the year with a significant loss," Farandou said Wednesday before the Senate land use planning committee, where he was auditioned for the renewal of his mandate.

"I recall that in the first half of the year, which gives an idea in the middle of the year, we were in net income at -2.5 billion" euros (SNCF had specifically reported a net loss of 2 , 39 billion).

"We will not be far from doing x2", he said.

Nearly 5 billion loss in 2020, therefore, even though Mr. Farandou insisted that his calculation was still "a somewhat rapid estimate".

"I would not have said that before confinement number 2," added the leader, who hoped "a second half less bad" than the first.

The year 2021 will still be difficult.

But the public group has nevertheless "not yet" abandoned its objectives of financial balance in 2022, noted Mr. Farandou a few tens of minutes later during a second hearing before the Committee on Sustainable Development of the Assembly. national.

“Behind, the issue is control of the railways for the country, anyway,” he noted.

"We want to fight to ensure that we can reduce the cost of rail for the country, for taxpayers."

"The key will be the return of the TGV" from which SNCF usually draws most of its financial leeway, argued Mr. Farandou.

Attendance there fell to 1% of normal during the first confinement and is currently less than 15%, he recalled.

- "Maximum psychological price" -

"If we are lucky that this epidemic does not end too late and if the French want to get back on the train, if it starts again strong, it can save us. The TGV which puts us in difficulty can save us if it leaves, "he said.

The CEO of SNCF notes in this regard that part of the business clientele should not return because of the boom in teleconferencing.

We could therefore go from three to two first-class cars in the trainsets.

We will therefore have to put the package on (re) conquering leisure customers.

"We have to find affordable prices even at the last moment" in the TGV, he noted, saying that he was "fairly favorable to a kind of maximum psychological price", at least in second class.

The new price list will be launched in summer 2021.

"I want much more conquering trade policies", especially for seniors, he said.

For parliamentarians and the government, Jean-Pierre Farandou also noticed that the TGVs paid particularly high tolls (the rights of way paid to SNCF Réseau) and questioned the tax that weighs on them to finance the Intercités, which the executive intends to open up to competition.

Summoned to make disposals to partially cover the deficits, Mr. Farandou confirmed that the public group had put up for sale the Ermewa wagon lessor, which he estimates at 2.5 billion euros.

The group is considering the sale of the 50% it holds in the locomotive rental company Akiem, but no decision has yet been taken, he added.

On the other hand, there is no question of selling Geodis and Keolis, the logistics and public transport subsidiaries of the SNCF group which "are at the heart of the company's strategy", he stressed.

Mr. Farandou, who has headed SNCF since November 2019, must be appointed CEO again, as a result of the transformation of the public group into a public limited company on January 1.

The process was delayed as the pandemic prevented the election of staff representatives in the spring.

The regional planning and sustainable development committees of the National Assembly and the Senate heard from him on Wednesday to validate his appointment, which they did unanimously with the votes cast.

© 2020 AFP