SNCF’s results for the first half of this year are encouraging, despite the numerous strikes that have affected the French rail transport group financially to the tune of an estimated EUR 500 million. SNCF had a turnover of EUR 20.7 billion during the period, up 2.2% on the same period last year.
“The French have chosen the train and it’s good news,” said Jean-Pierre Farandou, chairman of the rail group, quoted in a statement from the French state-owned company.
After 2022, when it achieved record turnover, SNCF followed this rising train in the first half of 2023. SNCF Voyageurs, the operator of passenger trains, had a turnover up 11.3% to EUR 9.3 billion. The success of long-distance travel was due to high-speed trains (TGV), the company’s traditional “locomotive”, despite rising electricity prices.
Turnover from the TGV business rose 21% in the first quarter. Passenger numbers on TGV and Intercity trains increased by 10%.
SNCF indicated that the increase in its turnover in the first half of the year was due to a better occupancy rate on trains, 80% in the case of TGV, up 5 percentage points on the previous period, and to the maintenance of the level of fares.
SNCF first-half results: strikes cost EUR 500 million
Keolis, the group’s public transport subsidiary, which recently won the contract to operate metro lines 16 and 17 of the Grand Paris Express, also had a successful half-year. Its turnover rose by 7.3% to EUR 3.5 billion.
Without the industrial action, SNCF’s net result would have been even better. In the first half of the year, this indicator amounted to EUR 158 million, down on the same period last year when it was EUR 928 million.
According to SNCF, the 14 days of cross-industry strike action and the stoppage of work from 7 March by all the group’s unions cut EUR 400 million from the half-year result. In total, the strikes have cost the company around EUR 500 million, SNCF management said.
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