Inès Zeghloul, edited by Romain Rouillard 8:45 p.m., December 21, 2022

The social movement of SNCF controllers will disrupt rail traffic from this Friday and throughout the Christmas weekend.

Many trains have already been canceled and the travelers concerned are looking for a means of transport to join their families.

But their search turns out to be very laborious.

Concern begins to win travelers deprived of train tickets a few days before Christmas.

This Wednesday, SNCF announced that 2 out of 5 TGVs will be canceled on Saturday and Sunday, as a result of the controllers' strike.

For nearly 200,000 travellers, this results in the outright cancellation of their journey.

For them, the challenge is daunting: find a solution to circumvent these strikes and save their end-of-year celebrations. 

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In the stations, the counters quickly took on the appearance of complaints offices.

Users are getting impatient, like Catherine whose New Year's Eve in Nancy is compromised.

This Tuesday, the cancellation SMS she received made her jump.

"I came here this morning for the third time at the station. We are told to call 3635 to try to find new tickets. And there, we can't find a solution because all the trains are full. I looked at an Italian train to go to Chambéry, but it's full. There, it's really difficult," she sighs.

"The prices are exorbitant" 

Same problem for Pierre who tries to join his children in the south.

In the queue, he taps on his phone looking for a carpooling, car rental or bus solution.

But for now, it's a blank.

"I started looking, but the prices are exorbitant. Bus returns are full and there are no more Blablacars available. So it's really a hassle," he complains.

Charles Billard, the boss of Flixbus rightly indicated this Wednesday on Europe 1 that reservations on the platform had jumped from "20 to 25%" and confirmed a "price increase".

All holidaymakers affected by a cancellation of their train will however obtain a refund of 200% of the price of their ticket.

But for these users, it is a small consolation.

"It does not relieve me. The priority is my children, that's all," says this traveler.

"Christmas is once a year. And money is not the solution there," adds another.

The two women have also given up and will spend the Christmas weekend alone.