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Here Ouigo again: SNCF expands low-cost service

France’s train operator had some good news for travellers this week when it announced its low-cost TGV service Ouigo, that offers tickets from €10, would be expanding to cover more destinations.

Here Ouigo again: SNCF expands low-cost service
SNCF is to expand its low-cost Ouigo TGV service. Photo: AFP

SNCF took a while to cotton on to the idea of low cost but now it seems it is embracing it at full speed.

On Thursday it announced its Ouigo service, which essentially offers cheap TGV tickets on its fleet of trains would be extended.

Set up in April 2013 Ouigo’s light-blue and pink trains were an answer to low-cost airlines with trains linking the outskirts of Paris to the south of France, namely the cities of Lyon, Marseille and Montpellier.

From the beginning 2016 the trains will now link stations in the north of France: Tourcoing, and the TGV station Haute-Picardie near Amiens, as well as cities in the west of France Nantes, Rennes, Le Mans and Angers.

The current Ouigo station in Paris is the TGV station at Marne-la-Vallée to the east of the city, but from 2016 the trains will also serve Charles-de-Gaulle aiport and Massy TGV station to the south of the capital.

Just like most low cost airlines, the Ouigo service links stations outside cities and there is a limit on the amount of luggage you can take on board and there’s no bar on board.

Each year 400,000 seats go on sale at just €10 with a further one million costing just €25. Prices will rise depending on demand until they reach a maximum price of €85.

SNCF is also set to triple its fleet of coaches, that form part of the low-cost service Ouibus, which will offer coach tickets as low as €5.

The move is aimed at fighting off competition from rival companies who are set to enter the market after a recent reform opened up coach sector.

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TRAVEL NEWS

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail operator and the GDL train drivers' union have reached a deal in a wage dispute that has caused months of crippling strikes in the country, the union said.

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of 420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of 2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some 200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of 2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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