Paris (AFP)
The extension of the health pass to long-distance transport will come into force "between August 7 and 10", the Minister for Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari said on Wednesday, conceding that the controls could not be "systematic" .
Adopted by Parliament on the night of Sunday to Monday, the law on this measure "is currently reviewed by the Constitutional Council, it should be promulgated on August 7 and implemented in the following days, between August 7 and 10 ", revealed Mr. Djebbari at the microphone of BFMTV / RMC.
This obligation of the health pass, attesting to a vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test, concerns in particular domestic flights, journeys by TGV, Intercités and night trains, recalled the Minister, while acknowledging that for transport rail, controls would be "massive" but "not systematic".
"We will try to do this in the most operational and fluid way possible, so as to have a good rate of control and at the same time not to make the life of travelers difficult," he said, saying he wished to avoid a phenomenon of "too long queues", in particular during the weekend of August 15th.
Given the number of travelers affected on a daily basis - some 400,000 according to him - the checks of health passes cannot be systematic, he said.
"In the same way that during the curfew there was no systematic control of people going out (...), there will be controls that will be organized in particular in stations, randomly on board trains. and on arrival, but not in a completely watertight and systematic way, ”the minister developed.
Asked about the position displayed by the SUD-Rail union, which called on the railway workers not to control the sanitary passes, Mr. Djebbari judged that this "minority union" defended "a position which I think I can say is in the minority in the 'company".
"At the level of a group like the SNCF", it is possible to "reposition the controllers who would be in the rather resistant position as expressed by SUD-Rail on this subject", added the Minister.
The latter also wanted to reassure ticket holders who would pass a positive test, specifying that the SNCF would agree to reimburse them.
"If you book a ticket to go to Marseille for example and you are declared positive in the meantime, the SNCF undertakes to reimburse the train ticket", specified Mr. Djebbari, recalling that such measures already existed for Transportation by air.
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