Two « anger trains » join the capital on Tuesday to ask for more investments from the SNCF – Liberation

Hundreds of users and local elected officials from Paris-Orleans-Limoges-Toulouse lines (POLT) go this Tuesday, April 15 in the capital in two « Trains of anger » To ask for more investments for these « Battled lines ». They denounce many delays, regular cuts and locomotive breakdowns.

«  »Since there was the first TGV in 1981, the conventional network has been submachine. On the POLT line, you have to resume everything: change the rails, the crosspieces, the ballast, the catenary posts, the contact wires (…) and put locomotives in working order ”, Summarizes Jean-Noël Boisseleau, Emergency Vice-President POLT line. « We are considered as second -class citizens with increasingly slow and less reliable journeys », Launches the president of the Lot department, Serge Rigal, where the POLT line passes.

Ditto on The Paris-Clermont linewhere the Minister of Transport, Philippe Tabarothe himself recognized « A quality of service that is not up to par ». He announced on Friday in Clermont-Ferrand a « Price gesture » : 10,000 tickets to 19 euros for sale in June, 10 % reduction on subscriptions and the generalization of reimbursement 200 % beyond three hours late. In 2024, on this line, approximately one in five train was delayed more than five minutes, according to the minister’s office and user associations. In January, because of a locomotive breakdown, passengers arrived almost twelve hours late in Paris.

The SNCF nevertheless launched in 2018 a program to modernize POLT and Paris-Clermont lines, « Two major expansion major axes », but « still equipped with heterogeneous and aging technical installations ”, she recognizes. The railway company provides « Unprecedented investments » of almost 3 billion euros by 2027.

« A partial regeneration which for us is not sufficient », denounces Jean-Noël Boisseleau, believing that it would be necessary “2.5 to 3 billion euros additional so that, really, we are practically new. We do not dispute what the SNCF says. It is simply said to be good, but insufficient.  » His association hopes to bring together between 500 and 800 demonstrators this Tuesday in Paris, once the travelers of the two lines have gathered at the Austerlitz station, joined by railway workers.

The emergency vice-president online POLT also questions « The error that was the split of the SNCF » as one of the reasons for this situation. In 2018, the railway company was divided into five anonymous companies : SNCF Réseau, SNCF Travelers (in charge of trains), SNCF Gares and connections, FRET SNCF and SNCF HOLDING, which includes group management. “We multiplied the bureaucracy to the detriment of the core business. We no longer have enough drivers, controllers, staff in stations and counters ”, Fusige Jean-Noël Boisseleau.

The POLT line, more than 700 km of railroad tracks, and Clermont-Paris (420 km), carry 2.6 and 1.9 million travelers respectively in intercity trains. « By modernizing these two strategic axes », The SNCF intends to make the « Faster, more reliable and more accessible journeys ».

But the choices of the company to carry out this renovation work are also debated. Thus, a « Large -scale rail renewal operation » From the POLT line in the Loiret, extending to 70 kilometers, will cause occasional traffic interruptions. As reminded The Parisianthe site will include three phases. First the preparatory work, from April 22 to August 1, 2025, then the main work, from August 4 to the end of January 2026, with a break during the Christmas holidays, from December 20 to January 4. Pending finishing work, from the end of January 2026 until March 26, 2026.

Questioned by the regional daily, regional director TER SNCF Travelers, Hélène Marquet, assures that “The preparatory work from April 22 to August 1, 2025 will have limited impacts, mainly between 10 and 15 hours. More than 90 % of the 365 weekly circulations using the axis will be provided. The main work from August 4, 2025 to the end of January 2026 will have impacts only on weekdays, between 9:30 am and 5.30 pm. ”

These are « Renovate completely » These ways (rails, crosspieces and ballast), « By means of a user train, a real rolling plant capable of very high yields », specifies the SNCF, for whom « Without this industrial organization, these works would last several years ». A choice criticized by Jean-Noël Boisseleau, who considers that we could have avoided this total traffic interruption: “Traffic could pass on one track and leave the other free. But for SNCF, financially, it costs less to block time slots and use both lanes at the same time. ”