The SNCF is said to be in the process of closing the counters of around twenty stations on line J of the Transilien.
In any case, this is what the CGT railwaymen Mantes and Vexin affirms in a leaflet and an online petition which has exceeded 2,500 signatures.
These stations would end up without human presence.
This plan, called "Trajectory stations", would aim to respond to "change in user behavior since the health crisis", according to the union.
The stations concerned are listed on the Paris-Gisors and Paris-Mantes branches by Conflans.
On the first, on the Val-d'Oise and Oise side, these would be the stations of La Frette-Montigny and those beyond Pontoise.
On the Yvelines side, these closures would target the stations of Triel-sur-Seine, Vaux-sur-Seine, Thun-le-Paradis, Juziers or Gargenville.
That of Chanteloup-les-Vignes could be spared.
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"There is nothing certain, we do not know which will be affected", indicates Laurent Kunz, general secretary of the CGT railway workers Mantes and Vexin, who denounces "a real social plan for railway workers working on these lines".
Ninety-five positions would be cut.
Sales terminals to replace agents
When he heard about this project, Philippe Audebert, mayor of Frette-sur-Seine (Val-d'Oise), asked for an interview with the director of line J. “He was very transparent in telling me that there is a project but that it is far from being ratified.
The elected official underlined on this occasion his attachment to a human presence at the station.
He believes that this transformation, if it went to the end, would create a difference between users of the Frette-Montigny station and the surrounding stations.
"There should be no second-rate citizens," he argues.
Triel-sur-Seine (Yvelines), this Thursday.
The station may soon no longer have a ticket office.
LP / JC
The concerns of the CGT Cheminots do not relate only to employment. “Users will no longer be able to buy their ticket at the station and will have to use the sales terminals or go on the Internet to obtain a valid ticket. What will happen when these terminals are in malfunction? Asks the union. During disruptions, there would also be no more staff to inform and guide users.
“In addition, the feeling of insecurity in the evenings and weekends will be more and more significant.
Emptied of any physical presence of SNCF agents, stations will over time become places of potential insecurity, ”adds the union.
He also considers it likely that these measures will later be extended to other branches of the J line, then to the whole of the Paris region.
"It won't change anything for me"
But what do users think? At Triel-sur-Seine station (Yvelines), the ticket office for buying tickets is currently only open in the morning, from 7 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. And its removal does not seem to disturb regulars. “I have a Navigo pass that I top up every month at the machine, it won't change anything for me,” explains Catherine, who uses line J every day to get to her work in Paris. “Here, it is mainly workers, it is not a station where there are tourists who need information to get around,” confirms Nicolas.
In Gargenville (Yvelines), "it's been two or three years that there is no more counter, it is only automatic sales", indicates the mayor (DVD), Yann Perron.
However, the station is part of the “1001 stations” system launched by the SNCF to revitalize stations which have unoccupied premises.
New services instead of counters?
Bike repair workshops, sale of locally produced fruit and vegetables, coworking spaces, nurseries… The idea is to set up services for users, in consultation with the municipalities.
Project leaders are supported in setting up their activity with a moderate rent and financed works.
"In Gargenville, they are mainly daily users, today it is more relevant to offer new services to travelers at the station," said the elected official.
The call for projects phase is underway and there is, for the time being, no precise timetable.
Contacted by "the Parisian", the SNCF neither confirms nor denies these window closings.
“As part of the new contract between Île-de-France Mobilités and Transilien SNCF, we are currently working on a further development of station services, better suited to the new behaviors of our travelers.
The reflection is underway, so we have no elements to transmit to date, ”she replied.
