This is a novelty that makes some railway workers cringe.
SNCF on Monday launched relatively slow conventional trains, marketed by a subsidiary under the Ouigo brand, on the Paris-Lyon and Paris-Nantes lines.
Operated on the model of the low-cost Ouigo TGV, these “Ouigo Classic Train” trains use old Corail coaches that have been refreshed and coated in pink.
The company offers two daily round trips between Paris (Austerlitz or Bercy) and Lyon-Perrache, which take between 4:45 and 5:15 hours. It takes between 3:30 and 4:15 hours to get from Paris-Austerlitz to Nantes, with three round trips per day.
Work 15 to 20 extra days per year
A few hundred railway workers gathered Monday morning in Austerlitz, at the call of SUD-Rail and the CFDT, to protest against the operation of these new links by a subsidiary, where management is asking employees for more versatility to do lower costs.
After loudly hailing the arrival of the first train – not very full – from Lyon, SUD-Rail activists forced their way onto the platform where a train for Nantes was to leave, the departure of which they delayed after covering the motor of stickers.
"We say yes to more trains, but the management chooses to produce them by subsidiaries", lamented Thomas Cavel, secretary general of the CFDT-Cheminots, denouncing "the least on social conditions".
“What will be applied to them is the branch agreement for the organization of work.
This will lead them to work 15 to 20 days more per year,” criticized Érik Meyer, federal secretary of SUD-Rail.
“Our watchword is to say that becoming a subsidiary is a betrayal!
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Company
Trenitalia transported 150,000 passengers in three months between Paris and Lyon
Company
Paris: Tickets at 5 euros for the launch of slow Ouigo to Lyon and Nantes
Paris
Lyons
Nantes
Train
SNCF
Ouigo
Transportation
Ile-de-France
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Pays de la Loire