France will be hit this Thursday due to mass strikes in protest against the government's pension reforms. Public protests will greatly disrupt traffic in France and neighbouring countries, says Le Monde.
The French state-owned enterprise managing the railways, SNCF intends to take an active part in the strike. The company’s management said that out of ten TGVs, only one train will be launched and out of five TERs, only one will run.
In the Paris region, only every tenth intercity train is expected to run, while international traffic will be practically cut off: Eurostar will run once a day, an international high-speed train operator engaged in the Paris-Brussels-Cologne-Amsterdam line (Thalys , will launch only one train out of three, while Italy, Germany and Spain will remain practically without communication with France. To compensate for interruptions, SNCF will launch spare buses, which will replace 23% of regular trains during the strike.
The railway strike will continue until at least December 9th. SNCF promised to post information on its website on flights for the next day every day at 17. 00 local time.
However, users can no longer book tickets for TGV or intercity trains from December 5 to 8.
All tickets purchased for these dates can be exchanged or returned with full refund.
The RATP will also join the strikers. About 90% of agents will stop working.
On Thursday, only metro lines 1 and 14 (automated lines) will circulate normally. The other eleven metro lines will be completely stopped. Line 4 (1 train out of 3), 7 (1 train out of 4) and 9 (1 train out of 4) will be open exclusively from 6:30 to 9:30 and from 17:00 to 20:00 . Only every third bus will circulate around Paris.
Timetables for trains on the metro, RER, buses and trams will be announced on the RATP website.
CGT Transports, FO Transport and Logistics and Unsa Transport urge workers in the urban public transport sector to take part in the strike movement. Notifications should only be submitted by bus and trolleybus drivers, other carriers (trucks, ambulances, taxis ...) can simply report the strike to their employers. Riots are expected in the cities as well as on the roads, as previous strikes by transport services led to traffic blockages.
Tomorrow's strike will also affect the air transport sector. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) announced on Tuesday night the cancellation of 20% of flights to France.
Eleven Air France unions will join the strike on December 5th. Air France will cancel 30 percent of domestic flights and 15 percent of medium distance flights. Traffic will not return to normal schedule until Saturday.
EasyJet Airlines announced the cancellation of “233 domestic flights and flights within the European Union, including 70 flights to the UK.” Company management advises its customers to check flight schedules.
This strike is expected to become one of the largest since 1995.
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