Faced with a drop in bookings of 70 % for April and May, SNCF is revising its offer downwards. With the introduction of reinforced health measures in 18 départements at the end of March, the company had already reduced the number of TGVs in circulation from three out of four since the start of the year to an average of three to six out of ten. The new containment forced SNCF Voyageurs to reduce the sail area even further.
From 12 April, the number of high-speed trains on weekdays will fall to four TGVs out of ten on the South-East, Atlantic and East routes, as well as for OUIGO services. On the Northern route, an average of three TGVs out of ten will be running. This service may be increased at weekends and during school holidays, depending on the route.
For Intercity trains, the offer is set at 50% on average, in accordance with decisions taken by the Ministry of Transport, with variable adjustments depending on the route. On the Paris - Clermont-Ferrand and Paris - Limoges - Toulouse routes, four return trips per day will be offered on weekdays, as well as between Marseille and Bordeaux. On certain routes, only one return trip will be offered daily, notably between Nantes and Bordeaux, Nantes and Lyon, Béziers and Clermont-Ferrand, as well as on the Toulouse - Bayonne - Hendaye route.
Finally, as far as regional transport is concerned, the service maintained represents a national average of 80% for regular trains running during the week, with levels varying from region to region. SNCF Voyageurs is continuing to study possible additional adjustments.
Internationally, high-speed services are limited to one Eurostar per day between Paris and London and on the London-Lille-Brussels-Amsterdam route. On the Paris-Brussels route offered by Thalys, there are four round trips, one of which continues on to Amsterdam, with a parallel daily service between Paris and Dortmund. Between France and Switzerland, Lyria offers five TGVs a day, while to Germany, SNCF, in cooperation with Deutsche Bahn, offers eight round trips a day. Finally, there will be two return services to Italy and Spain.
SNCF states that all tickets are exchangeable and refundable free of charge until the last minute for journeys made up to and including 30 April 2021. In addition, Mon Forfait Annuel and TGV Max subscribers will not have their season ticket deducted for the month of April. Depending on how demand develops, SNCF Voyageurs does not rule out making other adjustments over the coming weeks.
