The French have never taken the train so much. No less than 126 million people took a TGV last yearO +3.8% in one year and +11% since 2019. It is +35% for the intercities during the same period and +33% for ter.
A success accompanied by criticism about reliability, particularly in certain interurban lines that suffer chronic dysfunctions. And in general, according to a survey* directed for the Ministry of Transportation, the ruling is severe.
48% believe that trains’ reliability is not satisfactory (19% of which are not satisfactory), 42% the satisfactory judge.
In this context, 56% of the French want us to inves as a priority in the railroads. At this point, the State passed the hand to the SNCF group whose profits (1.6 billion euros in 2024) are completely reinvested, especially in the infrastructure through a competition fund.
An approach that ulcer SNCF unions since the network is used by competitors of the national company, but it is the most important financing channel to regenerate an out of TGV that needs it.
Annual investments in the network now reach 3 billion euros (against one billion before the 2018 reform). “We need 4,500 million per year,” under the penalty of seeing that the network deteriorates and the regularity of trains diving, “says Jean-Pierre Farandou, CEO of the SNCF.
The car stays ahead to travel
If the reliability is set, the quality of the trains on board is, on the contrary, acclaimed by the French. Even so, according to this survey, 58% consider it satisfactory against 29% is not satisfactory (9% at all).
In addition, 48% of the French consider the available railroad offer, 38% think otherwise. It should be remembered that the SNCF closes many small lines and that the current network, excluding TGV, is much less entangled than it could be observed twenty years ago.
The fact is that despite the madness of the train and the most green travel methods, the car, it remains, with much, the favorite means of traveling from the French.
According to the 2025 Mobility Barometer led by IPSOS for Europ assistance, 86% of them using their car daily (85% of the models are thermal), it is even a point more than in 2024.
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Source: BFM TV
