A month after its launch, the Strasbourg RER is off to a difficult start

Europe 1 with AFP 3:47 p.m., January 20, 2023

Delays, cancellations, lack of communication… The first RER outside Ile-de-France has had a difficult start since its launch on December 11 around Strasbourg.

The European Metropolitan Express Network (Reme) provided for the commissioning of 800 additional trains per week from December, extended timetables from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., a high frequency, as well as a frequency maintained at weekends.

More than a month later, only 400 additional trains currently connect the 95 stations concerned.

“The commissioning is chaotic,” denounced the CGT on December 23.

More than fifty trains were canceled each day, according to figures consulted by the National Federation of Transport User Associations in the Grand Est (Fnaut).

Such a mess that after a week the SNCF put in place a "adapted transport plan" until the end of December, in other words a reduction in the number of trains which was extended until February 3.

The objective of going from 2,979 TER per week in the Bas-Rhin to 4,116 by August 2023 now seems distant.

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"TER Grand Est: fed up with users"

"It is, more than anything, an additional mental load" testifies to AFP Emeline Adrian, user who lives in Lutzelhouse, a small town west of Strasbourg.

The civil servant, mother of two children, has encountered difficulties since the launch of the Alsatian express network.

"Before, I had four trains that allowed me to arrive at 9 a.m. in Strasbourg. Today, I only have two," she laments.

A situation that forced her to take the car back, "while the ZFE (Low Emission Zone) has just been put in place. Between the SNCF subscription and the price of gasoline, my costs have increased considerably".

Emeline Adrian joined a Facebook group, "TER Grand Est: fed up with users".

With 1,200 members, the group makes it possible to exchange information on delays and cancellations of trains.

Its founder, Vanessa Mikuczanis, lives in Soultz-sous-Forêts (north of Strasbourg).

This secretary in an association had to "change (her) working hours".

A petition with more than 2,600 signatures

At the beginning of January, she launched a petition which collected more than 2,600 signatures.

"We are asking for the full refund of subscriptions" for December and January.

"At the point where we are, we even prefer a return to timings and schedules before the express network," she adds.

In response, the SNCF announced on January 13 "the support of 50% of Reme subscriptions for three months", from February to April.

The transport company also wishes to put on sale "1,500,000 tickets at low prices, for occasional users".

Provisions deemed "insufficient" by François Giordani, president of Fnaut Grand-Est.

"Users have already paid for a service that just doesn't work."

According to him, "the SNCF did not know how to organize itself. But the Eurometropolis of Strasbourg (EMS) and the Region did not take into account the alerts of the unions on the lack of personnel and equipment".

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The service costs 500,000 euros per month to the Region and the EMS

The SNCF, which did not wish to communicate with AFP, "recognized shortcomings in the organization but continues to affirm that it has the necessary resources" to operate the service, reports Thibaud Philipps, vice-president (LR ) of the Region in charge of transport.

Alain Jund, environmental vice-president of the EMS, assures that before the launch of the project there was no "legitimacy to worry about, we had even had guarantees from the national management of the SNCF ".

The Region and the EMS are now threatening to "reassess their contributions" by the end of the year.

Currently, both pay the Reme service 500,000 euros per month.

Elected officials are "well aware of being observed at the national level": Emmanuel Macron affirmed at the end of November his ambition to develop RER networks in the 10 main French cities, excluding Paris.

"It's a very nice project, a first in France", recalls the ecologist mayor of Strasbourg, Jeanne Barseghian.

"If it doesn't work here, it won't work elsewhere."