In the end, the SNCF wins. Hauts-de-France decided, following a call for tenders, to leave the operation of regional trains in the Amiens region to the SNCF. A decision that may seem surprising due to repeated tensions between the community and the railway company over delays and TER cancellations.
“The choice was not difficult between the two candidates”, SNCF Voyageurs and the operator Transdev (subsidiary of the Caisse des dépôts), indicated a source close to the file. “In the rating, the SNCF is ahead. There is no photo: we take the best, ”she added, confirming information from the specialized site Mobilettre.
“When the SNCF wants, the SNCF can! »
The call for tenders for this lot, the “Amiens star”, which represents 17% of Hauts-de-France TERs, was launched in the summer of 2020. The contract will begin at the end of 2024, for nine years. . According to the source familiar with the matter, SNCF Voyageurs has, among other things, committed itself to a regularity target of 98.5% and to an increase in supply of 9.5%. The penalties will be multiplied by 4 and the Region may terminate the contract in the event of fault without paying compensation. “When the SNCF wants, the SNCF can! “, welcomed the LR boss of Hauts-de-France, Xavier Bertrand, stressing that the company was committed “to do better with the same means”.
The malfunctions of the TER network are at the center of a recurring showdown between Xavier Bertrand, who denounces in particular a significant lack of drivers, and the SNCF. Hauts-de-France had even suspended payments due to the operator for a time. The SNCF also announced on Monday the appointment of a new director in charge of a “performance recovery program” in the region, Bertrand Gosselin, former general manager of the Franco-Belgian company Thalys.
“We, what we expect is action”, did we react in the entourage of Xavier Bertrand. “At present, there are still 60 drivers missing in the region and we have 100 trains canceled per day. »
European law imposes, from December 2023, a competition for rail traffic for all regions, hence the calls for tenders launched to gradually allocate “lots” of local lines to new operators. The first two calls for tenders in PACA have so far seen, at the end of 2021, the victory of Transdev for the operation of the Marseille-Nice railway line, while SNCF Voyageurs won the lines around Nice.
Operators are now awaiting the results of calls for tenders in the Pays-de-la-Loire for lines around Nantes and in Ile-de-France for the T4 and T11 tram-trains.