In the railways, a motto circulates among the railway workers: to arrive on time, you must already leave on time.
Bad luck, the opening to competition of the sector, initiated in 2018, is already lagging behind.
A call for tenders launched in January 2019 to designate the company that would succeed SNCF to operate two Intercités lines (Nantes-Bordeaux and Nantes-Lyon) failed.
Between them, these lines, designated as “regional balance trains” (TET), the famous Intercités, nevertheless transport more than a million passengers per year.
With the support, it is true of the state, which pays 25 million euros in subsidies.
The ace!
Even before the deadline for submitting applications, the three competing groups - the French Transdev, the Belgian Eurorail and the subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn Arriva - threw in the towel.
All that remains is the incumbent operator to take up the torch willy-nilly.
"In practice, it doesn't work"
A very bad signal, while new calls for tenders for Intercités and TER lines must be issued soon, and companies other than SNCF will be able to run their TGVs from January 1, 2021 if time slots are available.
“We were told in 2018 that we were going to see what we were going to see, ironically Fabien Villedieu, South Rail union representative at SNCF.
That opening up to competition was a panacea, and that the monopoly was a thing of the past.
Yet in practice, it does not work.
"
An observation of failure shared by Bruno Gazeau, president of the FNAUT (National Federation of associations of transport users), who nevertheless defends the reform: “It is all the more unfortunate that these two lines served as a laboratory before the after.
And competition would improve the quality of services, such as the frequency of trains, for lower prices.
"
But then, why did the call for tenders not find a taker?
"The call for tenders is still ongoing," says one in the entourage of Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, the Minister of Transport.
You have to keep in mind the current economic situation.
Companies that have shown interest are also experiencing difficulties.
And the regions have launched calls for tenders on the TER at the same time.
"
Would too much competition hurt competition?
"We are going to give ourselves a little time to take this new context into account while keeping the objective of rapidly improving the TET offer for users.
"
Unprofitable sections
Will this be enough to revive the interest of operators?
Nothing is less sure.
"These are difficult lines," acknowledged the boss of the SNCF, Jean-Pierre Farandou, during a hearing on December 2 before the Committee for Regional Planning and Sustainable Development in the Senate.
They go through the Massif Central, there are works, they are not the simplest lines […].
Any delegation of public service involves a risk, as we know.
"
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Despite its 60 million euros of annual turnover and its 300 employees in France, Eurorail, owned by the American RDC since 2015, specialist in freight but also operating in passenger transport, particularly in Germany and in Great Britain, considered it wiser to withdraw its marbles.
“Even if the guarantees are revised upwards, that will not be enough, regrets Brice Devinoy, boss of the group.
The Covid pandemic has considerably weakened the sector.
"
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Eurorail, like its competitors, also recalls the investment represented by this type of exercise.
“A call for tenders is a budget of tens of thousands of euros,” continues Brice Devinoy.
You need a minimum of guarantees on the return on investment.
"
Same story on the side of Transdev, with much broader shoulders: "Our CEO, Thierry Mallet, invoked the current crisis to justify our withdrawal," explains a spokesperson for the group.
Better to refocus on what represents our core business.
For example, we are the leading private TER operator in Germany.
"
"The crisis has a good back"
Transdev, 66% owned for the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC), a public institution therefore, is far from being a second-class operator.
Despite the 7.4 billion euros made in 2019, there is no question for this multinational of 85,000 employees, present in 18 countries and transporting 11 million passengers per day, to take the slightest risk.
“The crisis has a good back, nevertheless tempers a good connoisseur of the file.
More than a failure to open up to competition, this episode points to the issue of railways as a whole.
Not enough economic attractiveness or flexibility compared to the road.
We saw it with freight, we see it today with passenger transport.
"