Just 4 trains out of 10 running

SERVICES HIT HARD BY RAIL STRIKE AS AIRPORTS GET BACK TO NORMAL – HOWEVER, AMIENS TRAFFIC WARDENS ALSO GO ON STRIKE ONLY four out of 10 TGV and TER trains are running today after the chaos

of the air traffic controllers strike yesterday that saw up to 75% of flights cancelled at Paris Charles-de-Gaulle and Orly plus several regional airports shut. As air transport starts to

get back to normal – it is feared it will take the best part of today to get planes in the right position - It is thought that one rail worker in two is on strike as they protest at proposed

reforms. They called a strike from 19.00 on Wednesday until 8.00 tomorrow morning and the effect was very heavy on the B and D RER lines in Paris where just one train in three was running;

on C and E it was one train in two and “almost normal” on RER A. TGV trains on the Sud-Est and cross-country routes are hardest hit, with just one train in three running and it is a similar

story on the Intercités trains, where three in 10 are operating. International services are running normally on the Thalys and Alléo lines but just one train in three on the Paris-Milan link

and one in two on Lyria to Switzerland. On night trains, only services to Germany and Moscow are running. TER services were affected yesterday afternoon in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Paca

regions as rail workers went on strike early, with services cut in both areas for commuters heading home. SNCF has called on passengers to avoid travelling if the journey is not necessary

and has information on what trains are running on freephone 0805 90 36 35 and on the www.infolignes.com website – with links to detailed information on www.ter-sncf.com (for TERs) and

www.transilien.com for Ile-de-France trains. However, at 9.10 this morning the TER website was reporting that it was “temporarily unavailable” due to the volume of demand. The Aéroports de

Paris were reporting this morning that one RER B was expected every 20 minutes from Gare du Nord towards Paris Charles-de-Gaulle and that services were expected to get back to normal

progressively. Elsewhere, Agen, Angoulême, Figari, Montpellier and Perpignan airports reopened this morning after being closed yesterday but there were some delays. • There was some good

news on the striking front: with traffic wardens in Amiens (called _pervenches_ or periwinkles, from the blue colour of their uniforms) walking out this afternoon from 14.00 to 17.00 in the

town centre. They are claiming extra pay – and put up posters warning drivers of their action.