Commuters in Paris faced more disruption on the rails on Friday with both RER and Transilien services hit by the ongoing two-day strike.

Paris commuters have been advised to avoid travelling. For the likely disruption you read the latest HERE.

However tens of thousands of travellers planning to take the train to south east France for a Christmas getaway this weekend breathed a sigh of relief after unions lifted their strike threat following negotiations with SNCF managers.

A near-normal TGV Sud-Est rail schedule is expected to operate on Saturday and Sunday, French train operator SNCF has said, after the CGT Cheminots and Sud-Rail unions called off their planned walkout, hours after a third union, Unsa, had ended its strike call.

Meanwhile, services on the TGV Atlantique line, between Paris and south west France, which were also subject to a strike notice, will be almost normal on Friday, according to Christophe Fanichet, Chairman and CEO of SNCF Voyageurs.

READ ALSO: French rail workers issue Christmas strike threat

It’s not all good news, however. Travel on the Sud-Est axis on Friday, December 17th, remains heavily disrupted, SNCF said, despite the lifting of the strike notice, with just one service in two running on lines between Paris, Lyon, Marseille and the Côte d’Azur.

SNCF said in a statement that the strike calls were lifted “too late from an operational point of view” to amend the reduced schedule.

“This lifting (of the strike call) comes after the trade unions accepted a final proposal made by the management of the TGV Sud-Est axis on Tuesday evening,” it added.

Some 50,000 travellers have had their plans for travel on Friday disrupted, SNCF told France Info. It will reportedly reimburse those affected fully and offer them an additional voucher worth 100 percent of the ticket price.

READ ALSO Commuters in Paris urged to avoid trains as two-day rail strike begins