“We are indeed in the golden age of the train”… The SNCF has recorded new attendance records in 2023 but is facing a lack of trains to meet the explosion in demand. The TGV transported 122 million passengers, a level never before reached and an increase of 4% compared to 2022, according to figures announced on Friday. High speed is not the only one riding the boom for rail transport: regional trains are also growing by 8%.
Compared to pre-Covid, attendance in TER jumped by 21% with peaks in certain regions, such as in Occitanie, where the number of travelers increased by 40% in four years.
“We are in the golden age of the train. We are building a virtuous circle of rail,” rejoiced the CEO of the SNCF Voyageurs company, Christophe Fanichet. The company with 66,000 employees is recruiting, its workforce will increase in 2024 as in 2023 after long years of decline, and it displays great attractiveness since it says it received 250,000 CVs in 2023 for 4,900 recruitments – even if at the same time the resignations also increased.
“This growth of the SNCF was limited by saturation effects”
However, “this growth was limited by saturation effects,” lamented Christophe Fanichet. In other words, with only 364 TGV trains, SNCF Voyageurs does not have enough trains to meet growing demand.
In ten years, the company lost 105 trains, scrapped while the TGV was going through a profitability crisis, even if the supply of seats increased by 13% at the same time thanks to the arrival of the TGV Duplex, which have more seats. “One in three TGVs ran full last year,” said the boss of SNCF Voyageurs, and this is even the case for 60% of Ouigos, these single-class low-cost TGVs, without a bar car and without reimbursement possible.