{"id":138935,"date":"2024-10-11T18:21:46","date_gmt":"2024-10-11T08:21:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/?p=57004"},"modified":"2024-10-11T18:21:46","modified_gmt":"2024-10-11T08:21:46","slug":"french-operators-claim-heavy-compensation-from-sncf-reseau-for-2023-strikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=138935","title":{"rendered":"French operators claim heavy compensation from SNCF R\u00e9seau for 2023 strikes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Nine French rail operators are seeking compensation from SNCF R\u00e9seau claiming it abused a force majeure clause to avoid compensating for train cancellations during strikes in 2023. The plaintiffs in question are thought to include Captrain, Europorte, Regiorail, Millet Rail, T3M, FroidCombi, CFL and Lineas.<\/strong><br \/>\n<span id=\"more-57004\"><\/span>The industrial action in question took place between January and April last year in protest to government proposals on State pension reform. Legal action has been initiated by members of the Association Fran\u00e7aise du Rail (AFRA) &#8211; a French industry body of rail firms, of which SNCF is not a member.<\/p>\n<p>The case will be heard before the Paris Commercial Court. \u201cWe are challenging SNCF R\u00e9seau\u2019s systematic application of the force majeure clause whenever national cross-industry industrial action takes place,\u201d AFRA President and head of DB Cargo France, Alexandre Gallo, told Railfreight.com.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"readmore\">\n<div class=\"readmore-item\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/railfreight\/2024\/10\/04\/french-mps-quiz-sncf-chief-on-fate-of-rail-freight-subsidiary\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Jean-Pierre-Farandou-128x128.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"readmore-thumbnail\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"readmore-info\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/railfreight\/2024\/10\/04\/french-mps-quiz-sncf-chief-on-fate-of-rail-freight-subsidiary\/\" class=\"readmore-title\">French MPs quiz SNCF chief on fate of rail freight subsidiary<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<h2>\u2018Passenger trains are prioritised in case of strikes\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cThe aim is not necessarily to obtain compensation but to ensure that the (rail) infrastructure manager (SNCF R\u00e9seau) finds solutions to keep our freight trains running when our own staff are not on strike,\u201c he added. The sentiment expressed among the plaintiffs is that when industrial action occurs, SNCF R\u00e9seau prioritises the cancellation of freight trains in order to maintain a maximum number of high-speed, regional and local passenger train services and limit user discontent.<\/p>\n<h2>SNCF R\u00e9seau says strikes are force majeure<\/h2>\n<p>Gallo underlined that SNCF&#8217;s rail freight subsidiary, Fret SNCF, did not benefit from preferential treatment during the strikes. \u201cIt suffered like the rest of us,\u201d he said. Railfreight.com approached SNCF R\u00e9seau on the legal action by members of AFRA but no one was immediately available for comment.<\/p>\n<p>SNCF R\u00e9seau\u2019s position appears to be that events such as strikes are outside its responsibility and control and constitute a case of force majeure. However, there are unconfirmed reports that the agency has nevertheless made a provision in its accounts totalling 12 million euros to cover potential compensation claims.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"readmore\">\n<div class=\"readmore-item\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/business\/2024\/10\/03\/open-modal-in-exclusive-negotiations-with-sncf-reseau-to-acquire-rail-terminal\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Terminal-Ouest-Provence-2-128x128.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"readmore-thumbnail\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"readmore-info\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/business\/2024\/10\/03\/open-modal-in-exclusive-negotiations-with-sncf-reseau-to-acquire-rail-terminal\/\" class=\"readmore-title\">Open Modal in exclusive negotiations with SNCF R\u00e9seau to acquire rail terminal<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nine French rail operators are seeking compensation from SNCF R\u00e9seau claiming it abused a force majeure clause to avoid compensating for train cancellations during strikes\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8066,1083,72,94,47,98],"tags":[12634],"class_list":["post-138935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alexandre-gallo","category-association-francaise-du-rail-afra","category-business","category-france","category-rail-news","category-sncf-reseau","tag-railfreight"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=138935"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138936,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138935\/revisions\/138936"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=138935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=138935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=138935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}