On the station platform, they are like thousands of lovers.
When their hands meet, you can see all the tenderness in the world.
But, unlike the others, they never take the same train: for five years, Katia and Cyril have been TER drivers.
Every week, they travel across Alsace, and like to share this funny daily life on social networks.
Their relationship seems obvious: their meeting is however the result of an improbable referral.
Cyril, 24, was born in Obernai into a family of seven children, a
“pure local product”.
From a very young age, he was passionate about railways:
“I lived near a railway line and, from the balcony, I saw the trains go by.
It even seems that it was the first word I uttered!”
After a professional baccalaureate in electrical engineering, he applied to the SNCF.
On the second attempt and after following an online course, he was taken: the dream of a lifetime.
A love story
Katia, 26, comes from Normandy, where she grew up with a host family since the age of 2.
She chose a literary baccalaureate, intending to be a lawyer or translator.
It was by taking a seasonal position as a controller that she discovered the rail professions:
“I fell into it by chance.
When I told my loved ones that I was going to Alsace to become a train driver, they were all hallucinating!”
He is gentle and diplomatic, she is frank and spontaneous.
It is on Twitter (henceforth X) that the two lovebirds meet: @TchooTchooGirl and @ConduitduTER (their respective addresses on
Cyril likes to photograph trains;
Katia has just moved to Mulhouse and is looking to make friends.
They exchange messages for many months before meeting for real.
“It wasn’t at all planned for us to get together!”
Cyril justifies himself.
But when the latter was transferred to Strasbourg, after a brief stint in Paris and Besançon, it was Katia who welcomed him and ensured his training on the lines...
One day, someone tried to throw themselves under my train.
I applied the emergency brake, and closed my eyes
Cyril
“
Love stories are like train journeys”
: this song by Grand Corps Malade seems to have been written for them.
Between two stations, the lovers have lots of anecdotes that the young man does not hesitate to tell, while the landscape passes by and his partner is in the driver's cab.
Katia in the driving cabin, on the TER Strasbourg-Barr line.
SEBASTIEN SORIANO/Le Figaro
Violence on social media
There are of course the funny moments, and the amazed looks of the children when they sound the horn.
But everyday life is not always so rosy.
“One day, someone tried to throw themselves under my train
,” says Cyril seriously.
I applied the emergency brake and closed my eyes: at the last moment, he swerved out of the way.
In his eyes, there was an impossible distress… From our position, we also sometimes see the misery of the world.”
When, for one reason or another, their train is delayed, they generally try to explain the situation to travelers:
“I often find official reasons too formal.
Rather than talking
about traffic regulation
, for example, I try to describe in my own words what is happening: a tree on the track or a blocked freight train… That allows people to understand better.”
Both assure us: generally speaking, passengers are always understanding.
On social media, however, it's a different story.
“I experience harassment on a daily basis, especially from certain colleagues,”
Katia gets angry.
This is perhaps a little naive: I thought sexism no longer existed.
But the more I talk about it, the more I realize it's because I'm a woman.
My conduct and my skills are being questioned.
It's gratuitous, sometimes violent.
I've already cried about it, then I put things into perspective... and then I'm lucky, I have good support."
A passenger asked me if I was the driver.
I told him I was a seat tester
Katie
The two drivers do not escape remarks about their young age either: in his early days, Cyril remembers that not a day went by without the railway police checking him to check his license.
“One day,”
says Katia,
“a passenger asked me in surprise if I was really the driver.
I told him I was a seat tester.”
“Responsible and useful”
Both are now
“in the reserve”,
that is to say they replace absent agents.
Consequence: a variable schedule, which requires both flexibility and organization since the schedules involve regularly stopping off depending on the destinations.
“We organize our lives together.
The advantage is that we never drive on the same line: we see the landscape.”
In the future, they could integrate a rotation, with a schedule fixed in advance over several months.
"The good life
!"
sighs Katia.
On the other hand, don't talk to her about learning to drive TGVs, she likes to chat with travelers and enjoy the scenery:
"We have no visual cues at this speed."
Also readSNCF: how can a “non-striking controller” single-handedly save the departure of 500 French people on vacation?
What do they like best about their job?
Feeling both responsible and useful.
“I like this idea of accompanying people, early in the morning, late in the evening in their daily lives,”
underlines Cyril, recounting his pride in having been able to drive on the train line he took when he was a teenager. .
“And then, when the weather is nice, I love driving with the window open, to hear the sound of the rails.
It is relaxing."
They even travel with the SNCF outside of work: Katia - who does not yet have her car license, has recently listed the best hikes in Alsace to do by train, with the idea of doing some later an Internet site.
What about Valentine’s Day?
They will be at their post, in the cabin:
“We will be off the following days
,” explain the two lovers, who have just moved in together with their four alley cats.
“We are passionate people, but, once at home, we also like to talk about other things.”
Speaking of which, are they engaged yet?
“Not yet, I’m waiting,”
Katia responds promptly, looking Cyril straight in the eyes.
“It’s in the works
,” murmurs the young man, smiling.
Cyril and Katia, together on the platform, at Barr station (Alsace).
SEBASTIEN SORIANO/Le Figaro