Other stations may experience the same ate

The tension mounts between unions and SNC on the cargo. Engaged in a new attempt to remedy this acti ity, the SNC is acing unions more in more concerned. Yesterday, on the occasion o an inter édérale meeting, all o the eight unions ha e decided to seek an appointment to the CEO o the company, Anne-Marie Idrac, and the Prime Minister, rançois illon, to e oke "the urgency o the situation o the reight".

or months, the maintenance o a de elopment policy olumes les unions un politique a policy the cargo. They cease to claim, in ain, a moratorium on the ongoing restructuring.

Pri ate competition that has already taken 4 to 5 o the market, the SNC bet instead on a return to pro itability through the abandonment o the most de icit tra icking and di ersion o human and material resources so released to more remunerati e tra icking. In the heart o the summer, dissemination o a list o 262 stations that the acti ity o isolated cars will be stopped e ecti e December set ire to the powder. Charged or ha ing prepared this list without in orming the unions, the SNC is also taxed to contract urther acti ity.

Loss signi icantly reduced

The oltage may still climb a notch in the weeks ahead when will engage the social negotiations in cargo. It is to impro e the producti ity o 25 to 30 specializing personnel and compressing their working days. This will mean term o new job losses. "Producti ity e orts in ol e job cuts." "I do sales today, e erything will depend on our ability to rebound," said Oli ier Marembaud, the Director-General o SNC reight yesterday.

To the scepticism o the unions, management wants to belie e at a rally o the cargo. "What we do today, the Deutsche Bahn has made i e years ago," says the leader. Already, a tremor is elt. Tra ic resumed in the irst hal o 2007 with an increase o 3.5. The loss common, 140 million last year, is more than 100 million o er the irst six months o 2007. SNC reight should inish the year with a loss substantially reduced rom year last o 260 million, and there ore e en more rom the 350 million de icit projected in the budget.

The bulk o the upcoming e ort must ocus on the acti ity o isolated cars, SNC chose to retain, as Deutsche Bahn. Last year, it was 750 million euros o turno er, a large third o total re enue, but 80 to 100 o the current loss. Its relie is the key issue o the strategy o the "high-speed rail", which aims to organize lows between 3 "hubs" (at illeneu e-Saint-Georges, in the suburbs o Paris, Woippy, Metz, and Sibelin near Lyon), powered by 30 plat orms, and to shuttle cargo departures e ery three hours. "Should turn the locomoti es and cars more, and this ocus on dense areas, tra ic rance-Germany, those o the axis Paris-Lyon-Marseille, with 30 to 40 trains cars and not step 2 or 3", explains Oli ier Marembaud. Hence the judgment acti ity o 262 stations in the West, hal o whom did in the circuit that less than one car per month. "Re ocus the tra ic on the East makes clear 15 locomoti es", continues the leader.

Other stations may experience the same ate. "Dozens o other stations are in a delicate balance," said Mathias Emmerich, Deputy Director General o SNC reight. By contrast, Deutsche Bahn had closed 700 o its 2,100 points o ser ice. The SNC said no inal list had now arrested. A ter the ailure o the pre ious plans, leaders claim the right to ly a little to iew.