France considers price cap for rail tickets with rising inflation
French transport minister Clément Beaune is working with SNCF to establish a tariff cap for rail tickets to make sure the increase remains lower than the inflation, he said on French television this week. The goal is to have the idea implemented in the new year.
Speaking on French television in Le Grand Jury, Clément Beaune said that he hoped the increase in ticket prices “would be less than inflation”. The minister also said that commuters who use the train on a daily basis, like young people who use low-cost Ouigo service, should be protected from rising ticket prices.
Record electricity bill
In mid-September, SNCF boss Jean-Pierre Farandou said that the electricity bill for SNCF Voyageurs would rise from 1.6 to 1.7 billion in 2023 in a hearing to the French Senate, reported Le Figaro. “If we were to pass on [increasing prices] directly to the cost of the ticket, we would have to increase TGV tickets by 10 percent”, Farandou was quoted as saying.
He was also wanted to reassure French train passengers that SNCF would not pass-on “100 percent of the cost to customers”, and that no train services would be removed.
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