Overview
- SNCF has cut roughly 10% of daily trains and introduced a 30-minute evacuation rule for trains that lose power, a measure announced as disruptions rose on Thursday.
- Operators report multiple heat-linked failures including weak air-conditioning on older Intercités trains, rails deforming from thermal expansion, and overheating or sagging of overhead catenary wires that can sever power.
- To protect passengers and avoid larger breakdowns, SNCF is offering refundable or free ticket exchanges, handing out bottled water in major stations and rakes, and advising people most vulnerable to heat to avoid travel.
- The crisis underlines a 2024 Cour des comptes warning that the network is “structurally vulnerable” and experts point to chronic underinvestment — roughly €51 per person per year in France versus far higher levels in several neighbors — as a key cause.
- Ministers and SNCF leaders say short-term mitigations are in place but that a sustained ‘wall of investments’ and an explicit adaptation plan are needed to prevent recurring disruptions during hotter summers and the busy holiday departures ahead.