The strike should still be very popular on Tuesday in public transport for the second day of mobilization once morest the pension reform project, with disruptions to be expected throughout France, from the TGV to the TER and RER, in the Paris metro and at the Orly airport.
Building on the success of their first day of action on January 19, the eight main unions called “to mobilize even more massively on January 31” once morest a reform that they describe as “unfair”.
The first day of action had gathered in the street 1.12 million demonstrators according to the Ministry of the Interior, more than two million according to the organizers. That day, the strike was particularly well attended in transport with almost no regional trains, few TGVs, a slow-moving metro in Paris and a very underserved large suburb.
On Tuesday, travelers should expect new galleys, including “highly disrupted” traffic on the TGVs: only one in three trains on average on the rails.
“The forecasts are broadly similar” to those of Thursday, January 19, summarized Sunday the SNCF to AFP.
The SNCF plans to see two out of five TGVs running on the North axis, one out of two in the East and in the South-East, one out of four on the Atlantic arc and two out of five Ouigo.
The situation should be even more difficult for regional trains with two TER out of ten on average throughout the territory.
Intercity traffic will also be “very severely disrupted”: no train will run except for a round trip on the Paris-Clermont-Ferrand, Paris-Limoges-Toulouse and Bordeaux-Marseille routes. Night trains will be completely interrupted on the nights of Monday to Tuesday and Tuesday to Wednesday.
SNCF travelers already recommends that those who can “cancel or postpone their trips” and “favor teleworking”. Users will be able to check train traffic on Monday from 5:00 p.m. on SNCF sites and applications.
– “Hard day” –
The unions are all the more upset that Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne was firm on Sunday on the postponement of the retirement age to 64, which is “no longer negotiable”. A “provocation 48 hours from the demonstration”, denounced the communist leader Fabien Roussel.
“It will be a difficult or even very difficult day in public transport”, warned Sunday morning the Minister Delegate for Transport Clément Beaune, in the program Le Grand Jury on RTL.
In Ile-de-France, major disruptions will also be expected for the Transilien and RER regional trains.
For those who will not be able to telecommute, Ile-de-France Mobilités offers carpooling “to all Ile-de-France residents during the days of the strike in partnership with 3 carpooling platforms (Karos, Klaxit and Blablacar Daily)”, said the Ile-de-France transport union.
In the outer suburbs, only one in three trains will run on the RER lines A, B, and the Transiliens H and U; one in four trains on the Transilien K line; and one in ten trains for the RER C and D lines (partly closed), the RER E, and the Transiliens J, L, N, P and R, according to the SNCF.
On the side of the Paris metro, the RATP indicates that traffic will be “very disrupted” with forecasts of one train in two to one train in four depending on the lines.
Some lines will have closed stations and will only operate during peak hours.
Only automated lines 1 and 14 will operate normally.
On the other hand, line 3bis will be completely interrupted. The RERs managed by the RATP, i.e. lines A and B, will run with an average of one train out of two during peak hours. Regarding RATP buses and trams, the situation will be much better: 8 buses and 8 trams out of 10 should be able to circulate.
On the international side, the trains will experience various fates: Eurostar and Thalys traffic will operate almost normally but TGV traffic will be “severely disrupted” between France and Switzerland (Lyria).
At Paris Orly airport, the first Civil Aviation forecasts point to the cancellation of one in five flights on Tuesday.
