Updated on 14 March at 6.30pm.
The first few days of the week saw traffic return to normal in the Paris metro while remaining slightly disrupted on the RER and Transilien lines. But what will happen on Wednesday 15 March, when a new call for a general strike has been issued by unions opposed to pension reform? According to Transport Minister Clément Beaune, interviewed this morning by France 2, "there will be disruption, but there will be no black day" .
Traffic at RATP is expected to be in line with previous days, i.e. relatively fluid for metro and bus services. On the other hand, RER trains are likely to be more affected. On 14 March, three trains out of four on RER lines A and E, two trains out of three on RER line C, one train out of two on RER line B and two trains out of five on RER line D were forecast. Traffic is expected to be even worse tomorrow 15 March, with one in two RER trains forecast on lines A and B.
As far as Transilien lines are concerned, SNCF was forecasting normal service today on lines K and U, three trains out of four on lines N and P and two trains out of three on lines H, J and L. Here too, these lines are likely to be more affected on 15 March. This morning, Clément Beaune estimated that SNCF traffic should be as follows overall "more degraded tomorrow" . For Wednesday 15 March, traffic is expected to be three Inoui and Ouigo TGVs out of five, one Intercités out of three, two TERs out of five on average and no night trains.
As for air travel, the French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC) is forecasting disrupted traffic at the airport of Paris-Orly from this Tuesday evening until Thursday morning at 6am. As a result, airlines have been asked to cancel 20% from their flights. However, unlike the industrial action on 11 and 12 March, only this Paris hub will be affected by the strike, as traffic is not expected to be affected at provincial airports or Paris CDG.
