Overview
- SNCF has suspended around 10 to 20 Intercités trains at midday on key routes such as Paris–Clermont-Ferrand, Bordeaux–Marseille and Paris–Limoges–Toulouse from August 12 to 15.
- Affected passengers are being notified in advance and can choose fee-free exchanges or full refunds with neighbouring services reinforced to absorb rerouted travellers.
- Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot described the cancellations as ‘realistic and precautionary,’ noting they represent a tiny fraction of the roughly 15,000 trains operating nationwide each day.
- The ageing Corail fleet, introduced between 1975 and 1989, relies on HVAC systems that SNCF warns are prone to failure under temperatures exceeding 40 °C.
- Unions and user associations have seized on the episode to denounce decades of underinvestment and warn that Oxygène train deliveries will not begin until 2027.