Tuesday, May 27. Guillaume Pepy, President of the SNCF, launches his booster plan for the most complex line in Ile-de-France: the RER D.
100 million Euros, 18-month timer: SNCF accelerates the modernisation of line D that has been planned since 2005 with the STIF, RFF, and the region. It has dug into its own pockets to put an end to passengers' daily difficulties.
Priority: RER D
Line D is the riddle of the Transilien network. It's a megaline (160 km from l'Oise to Loiret) and the most frequented of the SNCF (550,000 passengers daily, 2.5 times more than all the TGV lines combined). It follows the busiest rail tunnel in the world (Châtelet-Gare du Nord, 1,000 trains per day) and it holds the record for acts of ill will (1,153 in 2007, or more than 3 per day).
Add in the age of the trains and you get a rate of irregularity noticeably higher than elsewhere (17.8% delays on average during rush hour in 2007, versus 9.7% for the entire Transilien network).
"The passengers on Line D are tired of these repeated delays" said President Guillaume Pepy, who referred to the emergency plans, which have been in operation since 2005, to conclude: "I decided that the SNCF was going to put a part of its financial good fortune in the service of the passengers of Ile-de-France".
Starting Now! My commitment
"What the commuters on Line D don't want are these repeated delays that make them miss their stops for school or arrive late at work" affirmed President Guillaume Pepy, who has listened to them. Maintenance, acts of ill will, infrastructure: the SNCF has committed itself to investing 42 million Euros to reduce by a level, and if possible by half, the number of late trains on Line D by the end of 2009.
"The piece of information that we can't find on whether the train is or isn't running", that's enough! 1,200 screens of information in real time in 38 stations, modernisation of the sound effects and nomination of information managers: the SNCF will invest 21 million Euros to improve passenger information.
"Upset travellers in the evening trains and sometimes even on the weekend", it's unacceptable. An emergency number will allow passengers to activate an immediate intervention, a PC Bus will mobilise substitute buses in the case of a traffic interruption, and everywhere, the last bus will wait for the last train. The SNCF will also invest 7 million Euros to improve the certainty of its passengers.
"The escalator has been broken for two months, the standing wait in the rain and the dirty trains", they're insupportable. 500 seats and perfume diffusers in the stations, shelters on the platforms, and a huge leap forward in accessibility for people with reduced mobility: the SNCF has dedicated itself to investing 13 million Euros to make travel more comfortable.
