Like so many other companies, SNCF has been hit hard by the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Its CEO now hopes for a gesture from the state. "I hope that the Parliament and the government will be at the rendezvous of a revival of the SNCF and a revival of the railway […] notably on freight and on the network", declared Jean-Pierre Farandou on Wednesday , before the Commission for Sustainable Development of the National Assembly. "The notion of an SNCF aid plan does not seem to me to be unreasonable," he had already sketched in early May on France Inter.
He now calls for "a recovery plan that could be decided by the government on rail in general, [...] because the SNCF draws a whole sector", and "hopes [...] better drawn before the summer ". "Rail is a necessary condition for recovery, [and] it is at the heart of the recovery of other important business sectors, industry, tourism and consumption", also argued Jean-Pierre Farandou, adding that "it should now be placed at the heart of future mobility and at the heart of the response to the climate challenge".
"The box holds"
The boss of the SNCF wanted to reassure the situation of the company in the short term. "The box is holding up," he said. But after the strike against the pension reform which made SNCF lose a billion euros this winter, the coronavirus crisis made it lose two billion more at the end of April, between a collapse in the number of passengers and passengers. costly health measures, he said, without giving updated figures.
The crisis caused by the Covid-19 leads to “real cash flow difficulties” and “difficulty in arbitrating on investments” when the group has to borrow, not to mention “difficulties linked to the resumption of activity”. "One of the objectives of the recovery plan could allow us to regain an investment capacity," said the CEO. "We have a subject of financial balance".
SNCF having become a limited company on January 1, it can no longer go into debt without counting, he added. Even so, the state relieved it of 25 billion debt at the start of the year.
1% of usual traffic for TGV
"We do not know exactly how quickly the activity will resume and I will not hide from you that I am worried about the TGV" which transported only 1% of the usual traffic during confinement, and whose capacity is up to again limited to 50% to respect the rules of distancing, he also told MEPs.
"We will be ready" for the summer, he assured. "We have deployed a whole arsenal of measures which makes the train safe". "The central question is the rule of one seat in two" sold on board trains, he stressed, noting that the countries of northern Europe did not have this requirement since everything the world wears a mask.
Jean-Pierre Farandou was also worried about the sustainability of the plan to renovate the rail network, especially since it was to be partly funded by dividends from SNCF Voyageurs (with revenues from TGV). "Now these dividends, you understand, in 2020 and certainly 2021 will be reduced to the bare minimum", he noted, recalling that SNCF Network would also have to face new charges - especially to do without glyphosate.
More visibility in the fall
Immediately, "the sites have all restarted" after the confinement, said the leader. Another area of concern is rail freight. "We are in a situation of survival," regretted Mr. Farandou, once again calling for direct state aid for the entire sector, as in Austria. On the social level, "there has never been and there will never be any redundancies at the SNCF", he reassured.
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“We are going to watch how activity resumes. […] We will see more clearly in the fall ”, he noted, before insisting:“ No panic around the job ”. He made railway workers shudder in early May, saying that the question of employment was "not a taboo subject".
