Bug, not bug? While France is gripped by the psychosis of the bedbug, which monopolizes the headlines of the press, the alerts are multiplying, it seems not always wisely. For two weeks, public transport users have been posting images of various critters. A bestiary (without the nature of the insects necessarily being identified) which is snowballing on social networks. This Friday, September 29 morning, the Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune, announced on Twitter (renamed X) which he would bring together “next week transport operators, to inform on the actions undertaken and act more in the service of travelers”.
Concern is also affecting staff. A social alarm was thus triggered by the RATP unions, Thursday September 28, after the discovery of an insect in the driving cabin of an RER B, in Mitry. The organizations are waiting for answers, while the SNCF, which also operates the line, assures that the insect is not a bedbug. The tweet was posted Thursday at 6:20 p.m. by Anasse Kazib, railway worker and SUD-rail Paris Nord trade unionist: “A bedbug was discovered this afternoon at 4 p.m. in the cabin of a @RERB driver. A right of alert will be filed by the SUD-Rail Paris Nord union, to request immediate measures to preserve the safety and health of agents and users.” In the photo, we can see a small yellow insect.
“A kind of little cockroach”
In the wake of the discovery, four RATP unions triggered a social alarm. Depending on the operation of this system, aimed at preventing social unrest, the company has five days to receive staff representatives. “We want to know what will be done to protect travelers and staff, what products will be used,” affirms Thomas Truffat, deputy central union delegate of the Unsa transport RATP group, who explains that the concern is “of course on the RER B, where a case was detected” but also “more broadly on all equipment”. And to emphasize that the social alarm “was installed at the RER level”. Not on line B alone. The health, safety and working conditions commission has also filed a right of alert, says Thomas Truffat.
Problem, according to the SNCF, the insect triggering this concern is not a bedbug. “After verification by our expert, this suspicion is not proven,” we assure within the railway company, where it is specified that the expertise was carried out “from photos and videos”. At the end of the morning, the SNCF affirmed that the train was “during preventive cleaning and disinfection, as with each report, before going to a maintenance workshop unrelated to the procedure. The train will be put back into service afterwards. Asked by CheckNews Regarding the image posted on social networks, Claudio Lazzari, from the Institute for Research on Insect Biology, confirms the diagnosis: “In the photo, it’s not a bedbug. No, this is not the body shape of a stinkbug, which is normally more rounded. On the other hand, I don’t know what it could be… It looks more like a kind of small cockroach given the shape of the body, but it’s not a bug, I’m sure of it.”
“In-depth work on the issue”
On the union side, we said this Friday morning that we had not received any feedback from the expertise. “We are waiting for convincing elements”, explains Thomas Truffat, who adds: “Even if it is not a bedbug, it is not forbidden to do prevention.” Same story with Anasse Kazib, from the SUD rail railway union, who says he is waiting “a certificate from a pest control company” and refutes any overreaction: “We are not experts, there is suspicion, the role of staff representatives is to report things. And for us, the problem goes beyond this individual case. But there must be in-depth work on the issue: there have been TER, TGV, Ouigo trains infested. There have also been reports of travelers in the RER C as well as in metros and buses.
The SNCF ensures “take reports of pests very seriously” but states: “To date, we have not observed any presence or proven reports of bedbugs in trains, RER and tram-trains operated by Transilien SNCF voyageurs on behalf of Ile-de-France Mobility. The rolling stock has few textile coverings, no unevenness on the ground, no bins and is completely open. Pests are therefore absent from this unfavorable environment.” The company also points out that it has treatment protocols depending on the situation. Thus, in the event of a report, an investigation is carried out “thorough cleaning; the installation of specific traps and anti-pest liquid in areas not accessible to travelers, or the spraying of insecticide in all cars. Additional curative treatment is also planned, through “implementation of a treatment with different suction methods, steam cleaning and heating of the areas to be treated” and, if necessary, “a synthetic treatment on the entire train, renewed once at fifteen day intervals”.