The atmosphere on platform number 13 of Hall 2 of the Gare de Lyon is all the more joyful as this departure almost never took place.
This Saturday morning, at 11:20 a.m., a TGV from Lille entered the station.
On board, in addition to the 800 “classic” passengers, 75 children supervised by a team of activity leaders.
During this Parisian stage, 25 other little blond heads must go up.
Created in 1979 by the SNCF, Junior & Cie enables 220,000 children between the ages of 4 and 14 to take the train each year without being accompanied by their family.
Except that, strike requires, the device had been reduced to the bare minimum.
“It was hard for us to say to ourselves that children were not going to be able to travel during this Christmas period, says Alain Krakovitch, the director of TGV-Intercités of the SNCF.
We therefore created a special TGV from scratch, with a separate timetable and a service that does not usually exist.
It wasn't easy, but we got there thanks to the dedication of our teams.
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Read alsoIs your train canceled for the Christmas weekend?
An allusion to the controllers' strike which ruined the Christmas celebrations of 200,000 French people who had their tickets cancelled.
Friday and Saturday, according to the SNCF, 40% of the TGVs were removed on the South-East and East axes.
A proportion which has even risen to one out of two trains on the North and Atlantic network.
One out of three Ouigo and a quarter of the Intercités have also been removed.
VIDEO.
SNCF strike: "The priority is no longer Christmas, it's getting home"
Not sure that this train restores the image tarnished by the social movement of the railway company but the operation delighted parents faced with a fait accompli.
A journey of 1000 km
Leaving this Saturday morning from Lille at 9:49 a.m., this "children's train" crosses all of France from north to south, serving twenty stations, a more than unusual number for a TGV, including Paris, Lyon, Valence, Montpellier and finally Perpignan, the terminus, after a journey of more than 1000 km.
“We received an email on Wednesday informing us that the train in which my daughter Siham, 12, and my two sons, Ilian and Brayan, 9 and 4, were traveling, had been canceled, says Abdel, 46, sports educator at Paris.
It was the big disappointment.
All three had to join their mother who lives in Perpignan.
We've been using Junior & Co for two years, and we've never had a problem before.
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But a few hours later, a new message informs them this time that the children's train will be able to take them on board.
“I'm so relieved, because I'm going to be able to celebrate Christmas with my mum,” says Siham, smiling from ear to ear.
Abdel can breathe: his daughter, Siham, boarded the children's train this Saturday and will be able to join her mother in Perpignan.
LP/Philippe Lavieille
On board, board games allow children to play together and make friends.
Essential activities to keep everyone busy during the eight-hour journey.
“We also organize workshops, says Mohamed, one of the facilitators, with coloring, cutting, music.
It's a lot of fun during the trip, and frankly, the children do not see the time passing.
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On the platform, no tears.
Parents say goodbye to their children, wishing them one last Merry Christmas.
In blended families, Santa Claus has usually already come by the day before.
Already gifts in the suitcases
“We were with their step-dad, his parents and their little sister, June, who is 14 months old, says Julie, 36, a pharmacy assistant, who lives in Mériel, in Val-d'Oise.
And there, my two other daughters, Ellyn, 5 and a half years old, and Louane, 12 and a half years old, join their father in Béziers, with already lots of gifts, a bike, accessories for riding, and of course dolls .
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The daughters of Julie, a resident of Val-d'Oise, have already been spoiled.
Thanks to the train chartered by the SNCF, they will be entitled to a second service of gifts in the other part of their family.
LP/Philippe Lavieille
In other cases, it was the grandparents' Christmas before the parents'.
Emma, 23, is a student in London.
This Saturday morning, after a big party the night before in her grandmother's and grandfather's apartment, in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, where her uncles and aunts had also been invited, she accompanies Ethan, her little 6-year-old brother, on the wharf.
He too takes the children's train, direction Perpignan, where he will find their parents.
“The hardest part was packing her gifts, including Playmobils and an electric car, into her suitcase,” Emma laughs.
It was his first trip alone.
On the way there, he was a little stressed, but everything went well.
And then I told him that I too had taken the train alone with animators for years, when I was his age.
And that I loved.
It reassured him.
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