17h22 – The strike cost 790 million euros to the SNCF

The movement of railway workers against the railway reform has cost the SNCF, 790 million euros, or more than 21 million for each of the 37 days of strike in the spring, according to an internal document consulted Friday by AFP.

This amount, calculated taking into account the latest available information, such as the reduction in toll revenues for SNCF Réseau, is in line with management's estimates. The head of the SNCF, Guillaume Pepy, had mentioned early April a cost "of the order of 20 million euros per day."

The invoice of 790 million euros attributed to the strike exceeds the amount of profit net recorded by the Group in 2017 (679 million), notes the SNCF in its document. The railwaymen first stopped work on March 22, before staggering 36 strike days from April 3 to June 28.

Most of the slate is due to a loss of sales of EUR 770 million

In detail, 600 million receipts escaped pbadenger activity as many people abandoned the train due to traffic disruptions. And 60 million sales were lost in freight, with some companies preferring to switch to other modes of transport. The rest, 110 million, is due to a decrease in contributions from the authorities organizing transport, "linked to reductions of chargeback tolls."

To the lost revenue is added a cost of 160 million euros commercial measures implemented by SNCF to reduce the harm suffered by its customers

In particular, it granted compensation for their subscriptions to TGV, Intercités, TER and Transilien users. There were also free TGV Max subscriptions for the month of April, discounted tickets, free IDVroom carpool service on strike days … Cost of these measures: 120 million.

In addition, many bus substitutes (mainly for the TERs) circulated during the strikes, at a cost of 40 million.

– "Failure of the social dialogue" –

The movement of the railways also resulted in a decrease € 140 million of the company's expenses.

It has saved 100 million euros in payroll deductions for strikers and cut its expenses by 40 million (in electricity in particular), given the drop number of trains in circulation

Interviewed by AFP, SNCF, which will publish its first half results next Friday, confirmed these figures. "The total cost of the strike reflects both the loss of turnover suffered by the company but also the unprecedented amount of 160 million euros of commercial measures decided by SNCF to support its customers and limit the financial impact of the strike on the latter, "commented a manager.

" Railwaymen and their status that some consider unnecessary and expensive for the public service SNCF and for the nation therefore bring more than 21 million euros per day to the public company ", reacted with AFP Cédric Robert, spokesperson of the CGT Cheminots (1st syndicate of the SNCF).

This" exorbitant cost of the movement "represents" an admission of bitter failure of the social dialogue, "said Florent Monteilhet, federal secretary of the railway Unsa (2nd union). "The wrongs are shared on the side of the government and management." Unsa regrets that we have not taken earlier, before May (editor's note: and meetings with the Prime Minister), the path of negotiation and social dialogue "

" We would all have gained by getting together around a table to make another SNCF, another public company (…) without the need for a clash , without wanting to go into force, without going too fast "with" a poorly prepared reform, "added Bruno Poncet, federal secretary of SUD-Rail (3rd union).