"Forty lines (…) kept and modernized." Nicolas Sarkozy, on the road to Troyes on Thursday announced the signing between the state and SNCF an agreement for the benefit of interregional trains, those who are neither TER nor TGV. The agreement helps balance the exploitation of the activity. As those concluded with the regions, for example with the Ile-de-France for of the contract includes a bonus-malus system, conditioned upon compliance by the SNCF terms of quality of service, including a ponctualité.Dans interview with Le Figaro, Guillaume Pepy, the chairman of the public company, detailing the agreement. It also returns for the first time on the national social conflict that has affected the accounts and operations of the station without this time, the "block".Hats off, therefore the minimum service.
LE FIGARO – What is the purpose theINTERINSTITUTIONAL on interregional trains parNicolas Sarkozy announced yesterday?
Guillaume Pepy – The President today marked the commitment of the State to sustain a public service, vital to the balance of the territory, which was threatened because he was not funded. I applaud the work of the Directorate General for Transport and Department of Ecology has resulted in this folder "encysted" for twenty years. We are talking about 340trains serving 370 cities through 40 French lines that carry 100,000 people daily. For these intercity trains, we conclude a contract with the State shall, on the existing base, port, frequencies and equipment. Funding of 210 million euros, equivalent to the current operating deficit, will be included in the draft budget law 2011.It includes a tax on the motorway companies (35 million), a tax on the outcome of the SNCF (75 million) and another on the turnover of the TGV (100 million). The fact that this activity is now profitable will be ambitious state plans to hire 300millions euros over three years to upgrade equipment, whose average age is 40 years, before a purchase program trains New from 1 to 2 billion euros from 2015. For the station, this project is that of a new generation of public service, offensive and stronger than ever.
The contribution of the TGV will she passed on to ticket prices? Will you also get the freedom to set prices that you claim to public authorities?
That contributes to the TGV trains balance of the territory is logical and expresses a form of solidarity between regions. Those serviced by the TGV enjoy a real plus.However the TGV can not go anywhere. Of course, prices should reflect costs of service, and we'll see what the impact in the development of tariffs in January 2011. By the end of the year, we should indeed have cordoned off the discussion, not on the total pricing freedom, but on the relaxations that appear necessary instant payday loans. Already we are starting from a shared diagnosis of the economic situation of the branch train.
Our goal is that the TGV is still popular, which is a French specificity that we are proud. Therefore, for example, to make "positive discrimination" to the families, for which the car can sometimes seem cheaper than the TGV, especially if one excludes from the calculation of the purchase price of the vehicle. Thus we will fulfill more of our trains.And profitability of the industry depends on this criterion provided that the tolls we pay to RFF must also be reasonable …
What was the cost of conflict on Pensions for the SNCF? Your earnings target for 2010 is positive he questioned?
We can definitely quantify the cost of the conflict in mid-November, but it should be around 10 million euros a day of strike. It is too early to discuss what our results in 2010, already affected by the strike of two weeks of spring, but it is certain that our leeway for 2011 will be reduced accordingly. However, what we can say today is that this conflict has been devastating for freight, not only for the station but for the thirteen operators of this profession in France. For seventeen days of strike, between one third and half of the freight trains could only travel.Switching stations remained closed, preventing delivery of factories, warehouses … The consequence is that the rail has lost the confidence of shippers, customers. It's alarming. If rail freight is not reliable, we can not achieve the goal of transferring more transport from road to rail.
And passenger side …
The strike followed a long and strong among train crews, was fireproof minimum service. And the station has won: the minimum service is also "renewable"! The right to strike was respected and the right to transport was provided. We managed, and customer surveys we prove to be present alongside the passengers and many of the administrative staff is down at the station during this period for this purpose. We have made information widely available and reliable every day for the next day.So much so that we have lessons to learn the information and assistance to customers on a daily basis.
Alstom has again criticized Thursday and attacked before different authorities, the contract between Eurostar, 55% owned subsidiary of SNCF, and Siemens for the supply of high-speed trains. Cecontrat should it be maintained?
I understood that both French and British governments have seized the issue of safety in the tunnel for trains new generation proposed by the manufacturers, that is to say, distributed power. Let them work!