TGVs to Gare de Lyon in Paris. – A. GELEBART / 20 MINUTES
SNCF wants the French to leave their cars more and more in the garage. The CEO of the company, Jean-Pierre Farandou, aims for this to “double the number of travelers in ten years on the trains”. The objective is thus to see the share of railways double and ensure 20% of trips in France.
Today, “only 10% of people choose the train, while 85% still take the car. I want in ten years, (the share of) the car to decrease to 75% and (that of the) train to 20%. This implies doubling the number of passengers in ten years on the trains ”, specifies Jean-Pierre Farandou in an interview with Sunday newspaper.
New price list
“I want volume! “, He insists, while the public company must present Tuesday a new price range” simpler, more readable and clearer “with” moderate prices until the last days before departure “. “The train must not lose its popular character”, underlines the boss of the SNCF. In particular, it envisages “the creation of differentiated spaces on board trains”, with “several travel atmospheres”, and an effort on connections allowing people to travel from door to door.
The challenge of doubling the train’s market share is “commercial and ecological” because a TGV pollutes 50 times less than a car and 80 times less than a plane, recalls Jean-Pierre Farandou. On the ecological front, “SNCF wants to become the leading producer of renewable energy in France,” said the manager: “We are fortunate to have a vast free land heritage, that is to say thousands of hectares available to install solar panels. We can have 50 very concrete projects by 2025 ”. The company thus wishes to “produce [elle-même] 20% of its consumption in five years ”.