SNCF, à nous de vous faire préférer le train ?

The French National Railways want us to believe their service is so good you will ditch your car and take only trains. At first I thought so as the SNCF indeed enabled me to avoid a tonne of CO2 emissions in 2008.

But between their often prohibitive tariffs and their repetitive and long-lasting strikes I am tired. I am also fed up of waiting between two trains, sick of the time it takes to just to just get there…

I am not the only in thinking that the service proposed by the SNCF could improve dramatically and that a little competition would do wonders.
As a matter of facts, their service is so unreliable that their freight activity lost over a billion euros [Fr] in 2009 alone. Indeed, as a manager I wouldn’t trust the SNCF to transport my precious goods.

This situation is truly enraging as our roads and highways are literally packed with trucks. I am sure that among the thousands of containers going from one part of Europe to another – and thus crossing our country – an important fraction could go by train.

A more reliable rail service would literally slash oil consumption and greenhouse gases emissions. France has 21st century infrastructure and trains, it is high time the public company improves too…

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