Europe 1 with AFP 6:17 p.m., July 27, 2022

Friday should be "the busiest day of the summer" with 400,000 main line travelers expected, according to SNCF Voyageurs.

For the whole of the summer, the level of reservations is already 10% higher than in 2019, a record year.

To date, 18 million mainline tickets have been sold for the months of July and August.

The SNCF is on track to record "record attendance" this summer, the level of reservations being at the end of July 10% higher than that, already record, of 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic, the company said on Wednesday.

Friday should be "the busiest day of the summer" with 400,000 main line travelers expected, according to SNCF Voyageurs.

The SNCF has so far sold more than 18 million main line tickets for July and August, the number reaching 22 million by adding the TERs marketed on the SNCF Connect site or application, she told AFP. .

"This is a level of reservations up almost 10% compared to 2019 on the same date," she added.

Occasional and weekend TER ridership is also excellent, up nearly 20% compared to 2019. Unsurprisingly, the peak weekends of July 8-9-10 departures (1.3 million travelers on the TGV and Intercités), the July 14 bridge (2 million) and the grand crossover of July 29, 30 and 31 (1 million, and a third of full TGVs) have been or will be particularly busy.

800 TGVs and Intercités run every day

The most popular destinations are unsurprisingly the Mediterranean, the South-West and Brittany, the "top 5" of the most requested cities being, like last year, Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux, Marseille and Avignon.

The Grand Est is also popular this year, with notable increases in bookings to Nancy (+56% over one year), Metz (+50%) and Reims (+63%).

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

It plans to run 800 TGVs and Intercités every day, slightly more than in 2019 (+2% for TGVs), ensuring that the train maintenance plan was "robust and adapted to this increased traffic".

"There are still more than 6 million seats available on long-distance trains in August," added SNCF Voyageurs.

The SNCF always advises its travelers to wear a mask, even if it is not compulsory.

In addition, the public group will soon add new features to SNCF Connect: the possibility of selecting a stage, payment by Apple Pay, or "low price alerts" to be informed of the availability of its journeys at a given price.

The possibility of paying for your train ticket online with (dematerialized) holiday vouchers is popular with customers, according to SNCF Voyages.