France's national rail company said traffic will be running "as normal as possible" ahead of a series of strikes called within the public group. "We are far from a black week; there will be no complete halt, but a week as normal as possible," said Christophe Fanichet, the head of SNCF Voyageurs, the subsidiary for passenger trains, on Sunday, May 4, in an interview with Agence France-Presse (AFP).
High-speed TGV services "will be normal from Monday, May 5, to Thursday, May 8," he said, and most trains will run during the ticket controller strike on May 9, 10, and 11. "If we need to cancel some trains, we aim to offer each customer the opportunity to travel on the planned day to their destination," said Fanichet.
"Even if we manage to transport everyone, some customers may prefer to cancel their trip. In this regard, starting now, all tickets are exchangeable and refundable, without fees," for high-speed TGV Inoui and Ouigo trains, for the week of May 5 to 11, announced Fanichet.
Fanichet committed to ensuring "that all customers are informed, before departure, about their return train, (...) in other words, being notified before the start of the long weekend on Wednesday for services up to Sunday, May 11." According to the management of SNCF Voyageurs, every TGV passenger will be individually notified by email or SMS, whether their train is maintained or canceled.
Disruptions on certain regional lines and in the Paris region are also expected. For regional train services and those in the Paris region, information will be available the day before at 5 pm.
Two unions – CGT-Cheminots and SUD-Rail – have called on several categories of personnel to strike starting Monday, demanding higher wages and better scheduling. They say workers' schedules are too often changed at the last minute. For the long weekend starting on May 8, a public holiday, an informal but influential group of ticket controllers called the CNA has joined the call for strikes, amplifying it.
Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.