Main points:

Another day another rail strike in France.

 

Although that's what it probably feels like this morning for train passengers all over the country who are facing major disruption to their journeys.

 

The strike, which has been jointly called by all trade unions to protest pay and working conditions, will affect large parts of the country and particularly trains around Paris.

 

France's rail operator SNCF has already warned that only half of TGV services around the country will be running. 

 

In the Paris region only one in two Transilien trains are operating meaning many workers in the capital face a difficult journey to and from work on Tuesday.

 

RER services will also be badly hit, apart from on the RER A, which will pretty much run as normal given that it is run by the RATP rather than SNCF.

 

RER line B, which serves the two Paris airports, and RER E have had services hit to varying degrees but it is RER C and RER D that are the worst hit with only one third of the usual services running.

 

The Paris Metro should operate as normal although commuters can expect it to be even more jammed than normal given the disruption elsewhere.

 

The forecasts for TER and Intercité services around the country are even worse, with only four TER services out of ten running and one in three Intercité services.

 

Services in the Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur (Paca) region in the south have been badly hit thanks to a separate strike called by train controllers.

 

The good news is that international services like the Eurostar should not be too affected by the strike with services almost normal.

 

However Lyria train services to Switzerland will be affected.

 

SNCF say replacement staff to cover for the strikers will be used at rush hour times on Tuesday to try to minimise the disruption.

 

The operator said thousands of emails and text messages had been sent out to warn travellers that their services had been disrupted, which they say partly accounted for the fact that French rail stations appeared deserted on Tuesday morning.

 

For more information on the disruption and how to reorganize your travel plans CLICK HERE.

 

But passengers should be warned that although rail traffic should return to normal on Wednesday morning, unions have threatened further strike action in the weeks and months ahead.

 

“A stronger movement can be envisaged in the absence of real negotiations that take into account the alternative propositions put forward by the unions,” said Thierry Nier, from the CGT union.

 

The negotiations promise to be fraught given that they are aimed at harmonizing working conditions for private and public sector rail workers as SNCF prepares to open itself up to competition in the years to come.

 

READ ALSO: The reasons why there's another French rail strike