The Government has asked the SNCF to save energy, but not prepare to run fewer trains this winter in the event of a power outage, as stated the parisian, said the Ministry of Transport on Sunday. The newspaper affirms that the public company is working, at the request of the executive, on a degraded transportation plan this winter in the event of severe power outages, “a black scenario that would only be used as a last resort.” “The Transport Ministry has not requested any measure of this nature from SNCF,” the ministry told AFP.
At the end of July, the Ministers of Transport Clément Beaune and Energy Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher asked all transport operators to work on a sobriety plan, as in many other sectors, “to contribute to the reduction of energy consumption. 10% Energy”. . And these must return their copy on Tuesday morning, recalled a spokesman for the Ministry of Transport.
In addition, operators such as the SNCF provide “emergency and contingency plans in the event of a serious problem” such as a heat wave or power supply problems, which can lead to “last resort measures”. “But this is independent of the sobriety measures and does not respond to a specific government order,” the spokeswoman insisted. By advocating sobriety, the government encourages “waste hunting.” “It is not asking companies or public services to reduce or cease their activity,” she explained.
“Energy sobriety plan”
“Like all companies, we are working in September at the request of the government on an energy sobriety plan,” said a spokesman for SNCF Voyageurs. “We are working on all scenarios as part of this sobriety plan. No one is privileged and no one is determined,” he said. “We will accommodate government requests as we always have during the Covid period.”
The SNCF, a large consumer of electricity, has intensified its actions for several months to reduce its energy consumption, for example by emphasizing “eco-driving”, a more flexible technique for driving trains. This allows energy consumption to be reduced by up to 10% “without reducing (the) speed and therefore without penalizing passengers,” said the spokesman.
Source: BFM TV
