In January, the SNCF announced a 5% increase in the price of train tickets this year for users, due to the explosion in energy prices. This increase should continue in 2024, for a different reason this time, according to information from Parisian.
The culprit: the increase in rail tolls paid by SNCF (as well as any competitor using French rails) to SNCF Réseau, which is suffering from inflation affecting the raw materials used on its sites. This fee, which operates on the same principle as the toll paid by a motorist to use a motorway that must be maintained, weighs about 40% of the price of a train ticket sold by the SNCF.
Several increases in the price of these tolls were announced at the end of February by the Transport Regulatory Authority (ART). In 2024, the SNCF will thus have to spend 8% more to run its TER on the national rail network, and 7.6% for its TGV and Intercités. In 2025 and 2026, the price is expected to rise another 4%. The repercussions on the amount of tickets for consumers are certain, since “the maintenance costs of the TGVs must be fully covered by commercial revenue”, explains an administrator of SNCF Voyageurs daily. The Parisian.
Less TER in the regions?
The regions could be put in difficulty by this announcement. Indeed, the sale of TER tickets (all managed by the regions) represents only 29% of what is paid by the communities in service costs to ensure their operation. Two thirds of them have already had to increase TER prices to cope with energy inflation this year. They are now taken by the throat by this increase in the fee that comes on top of it.
“We are not going to be able to hold on”, warns Michel Neugnot, president of the transport and mobility commission for the Regions of France in the pages of the Parisian. “Our finances are already strangled and the State does not help us”, explains, meanwhile, Franck Dhersin, vice-president of transport for Hauts-de-France. To cope, some regions could decide to reduce the TER offer in order to reduce the number of tolls due. The SNCF network fee is the most expensive in Europe.