Traveling during the Christmas season in France and England is a conundrum.
The French railway company has canceled a third of trains scheduled for the Christmas weekend. Thousands of people are forced to seek alternative transport.
On Wednesday alone, 200,000 people sought flight or bus tickets instead of trains.
The ticket inspectors decided to go on strike demanding more than the 12% they had already negotiated with SNCF.
Christophe Fanichet, head of SNCF’s travel division, apologized to passengers and said the ticket inspectors’ strike – launched without union support – was “scandalous” and “unacceptable”.
“We won’t strike at Christmas” shout passengers and government!
According to the SNCF website, half or more of the trains scheduled for the weekend were canceled on connections from Paris to Rennes in western France or Paris-Bordeaux in the southwest.
Services to Spain were cut by half and services to Italy by a third.
The British are struggling with an avalanche of shutdowns in various sectorsFrom ambulance drivers to trains, going through the post office, border control, Heathrow airport baggage handlers, Eurostar security services, motorway transport agents… Conclusion: Many difficulties in all types of transport.
In the United Kingdom, nurses are also on strike and the disruption promises to deepen into 2023.
Jane Austen is a writer and contributor covering culture, literature, lifestyle, and society. Her work focuses on thoughtful storytelling, social trends, and the issues shaping everyday life, delivering engaging and accessible content for readers across the United Kingdom.
