Railworkers strike, traffic jams block Paris region

There were more than 230 kilometres of traffic jams in the Paris region Thursday morning as commuters tried to dodge the effects of a railworkers’s strike. On a national level three out of 10 TGV high-speed trains were cancelled, according to management.

Pierre Verdy/AFP

Unions claimed that 30-35 per cent of railworkers were to join the strike, a “very high” level of participation, according to them.

According to a law, the Loi Diard, passed under Nicolas Sarkozy’s previous right-wing government, transport workers must declare their intention of going on strike 48 hours in advance.

The strike seemed on Thursday to be having only a limited effect, with management predicting:

• TGV: seven out of 10 trains running; Intercity: more than half of trains expected to run;
• International traffic: Normal apart from Paris-Geneva, where some disruption was expected;
• Night traffic: no national night trains were expected to run;
• Paris and Ile de France: Two lines, C and D, of the RER suburban train network were expected to be disrupted, with the lines C,D, J, L, N, P, R and U of the Transilien hit.

Updates available on:

• Abcdtrains.com;
• sncf.com;
• SMS 4 10 20;
• Freephone 0805 700 805.

Unions fear that a reform of the rail network will open it up to competition, a change in railworkers’s status and a “provocative” pay offer of 0.5 per cent.

The strike is due to end on Friday at 8.00 am.

Air France employees are set to strike on Friday as a holiday weekend starts and could be prolonged.

The company says that all flights should take place but some may be delayed.

Unions are opposing a restructuring plan, that will slash jobs in order to reduce the company’s massive losses.

They also accuse the Socialist government of breaking a promise to repeal the Loi Diard.