SNCF is making arrangements to compensate its customers affected by general confinement. The company, the majority of whose trains are stationary, has decided to make a commercial gesture by making the direct debit for "My annual package" TGV subscribers zero for the month of April. In other words, the latter will have one month free, a decision taken in reaction to the impossibility of running the trains normally under current circumstances. Subscribers to the TGVMax package, reserved for people aged 16 to 27, will also be entitled to this free month.
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The group also told the Parisian that this " exceptional measure " could be renewed in May, if the confinement were to be prolonged. In addition, people who paid their annual subscription in one go will be reimbursed, according to terms which will not be known until the confinement has been completed.
The group also reminds Le Figaro that reimbursement measures for subscriptions to "daily transport", including TER, are not its responsibility, and must be taken beforehand by the organizing authorities. Several decisions in this direction have already been announced, as in the Grand Est region, or in Hauts-de-France, where " the April debit will be automatically canceled for annual subscribers by debit ". Same thing in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and in the Pays de la Loire.
SNCF made this choice when its activity was deeply marked by the epidemic. Since the announcement of the confinement, its transport offer has shrunk, mainly to limit the spread of the disease. " The objective is to limit long-distance travel to the strict minimum ," explained the Minister of Ecological Transition, Élisabeth Borne, in mid-March. The situation could last: " It is worth now, it is worth for the (spring) holidays ", she specified.
In parallel, the company remains mobilized to fight against the Covid-19, by running medicalized TGV transporting the sick, in particular. Its president, Jean-Pierre Farandou, recently called “ operational reservists of the SNCF not engaged in the essential missions of the rail service to join their military entities in agreement with their hierarchy”, in order to support the populations.
