An agent, pink vest on his back, walks through hall 2 of Gare de Lyon this Thursday afternoon in Paris. A somewhat disoriented traveler approaches him. Of Indian origin, he began to speak English. The SNCF agent takes out his smartphone and opens the TradSNCF application. " How can I help you ? », he said in French.
The application instantly translates its sentence into the customer's native language. Surprised, he responds in Hindi. “I missed my train to Milan. I don’t know what to do now,” the software translates. The railway worker then invites him to go to the ticket office or the SNCF Connect app to buy a new transport ticket.
This type of situation is expected to increase this summer during the Paris Olympic Games, with 15 million visitors expected, many of them foreigners. To provide excellent customer service, whatever the nationality of the traveler, the railway company has therefore developed its own application, TradSNCF, capable of translating in real time (orally or in writing), nearly 130 LANGUAGES.
Also useful for abandoned luggage
“She embodies the best that our group can produce in terms of hospitality,” underlines Christophe Fanichet, CEO of SNCF Voyageurs. We want to give a good image of France and our group. The app will be part of the Olympic legacy and will live on. » RATP has also developed its own application with 16 languages. She presented it last December.
TradSNCF, successfully tested during the Rugby World Cup, cannot be downloaded by individuals. The software will equip the 50,000 SNCF agents in contact with the public during the Olympics: controllers, security agents, station agents, etc. “We are also going to add specific signage in the Olympic stations. And the speaker will make the announcements in French and English,” adds Éliane Barbosa, director of regional and Parisian stations at Gares & Connexions.
“Circumstanceally”, the speaker will also be able to place the smartphone next to the microphone to make an announcement in a particular language thanks to TradSNCF. “If we find abandoned luggage, with a label showing that it belongs to a Korean, Japanese or Brazilian person,” explains Christophe Fanichet, “the announcement can be made in the language. »