SNCF management facing strikers, winter epidemics and storms in the United States

Did you miss the news this early morning? We’ve put together a recap to help you see things more clearly.

The management of the SNCF proposed this Thursday evening “additional measures” for the controllers in order to prevent their strike, which will disrupt the Christmas weekend from this Friday, from extending into the New Year. controllers declared themselves on strike this weekend, causing the cancellation of one train out of three on Friday, and two trains out of five on Saturday and Sunday, especially TGVs. Some axes will be more affected than others, such as the Atlantic axis or the North axis, with only one out of two TGVs. SNCF customers began to receive emails offering them a 200% refund in vouchers, whether they were able to travel or not. With the cancellations of some travellers, a few places were still available this Thursday evening on the main routes.

He sounds the alarm. The Minister of Health, François Braun, spoke on Thursday evening of a “critical situation at the level of the health system” due to the triple winter epidemic of Covid-19, bronchiolitis and influenza, which weighs on emergency services. “saturated”. “Our health system is particularly in tension at the moment, with the Samu who have an increase of 30 to 40% in the number of calls”, noted the minister. François Braun paid a nocturnal visit to the Samu de Paris, based at the Necker hospital, before going to the Delafontaine hospital in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis) 3 “Everyone is mobilizing in a kind of sacred union which is remarkable”, he greeted, predicting a situation “even more complicated next week”. “We have an extremely difficult course to overcome. »

Thousands of flights delayed or canceled ahead of Christmas, freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall: The first effects of a ‘once in a generation’ storm were being felt on Thursday in much of the United States. Very dangerous conditions to move around, warn the authorities. But millions of Americans must flood the roads and airports for the holiday season. The icy front in the United States should strengthen by Friday and continue through the Christmas weekend. Its power caused the NWS agency in Buffalo, New York, to call it “a once-in-a-generation storm.” The Midwest and the Great Lakes region will be particularly affected this weekend, with blizzards. The temperature felt in the Great Plains region is expected to reach up to -55°C.

source site