Compulsory health pass for railway workers: “Some trains could be canceled at the last moment”, – franceinfo

Didier Mathis, secretary general of the UNSA, second union at the SNCF, alerted Sunday, August 29 on franceinfo on the risk of train suppression “at the last moment” if SNCF railway workers do not have the sanitary pass when they start working. From Monday, employees of companies that welcome the public will have to present a health pass. This concerns bars-restaurants, zoos, amusement parks, but also SNCF staff on certain trains such as TGV and Intercités.

“It could be that depending on the sanitary pass, some trains will be canceled at the last moment. If the staff do not have the sanitary pass”, he warned. “For the moment, I have no return in this direction”, corn “It is not excluded that here and there, we may have canceled trains, for lack of staff with a health pass”, he said. “It is estimated that around 70% of railway workers” the share of vaccinated, indicates Didier Mathis. “There should be no impact on punctuality and traffic” trains.

What will happen if SNCF employees refuse to be vaccinated? “It is too early to know exactly all the solutions that will be offered to agents”, he says, but reassignment on a train where the health pass is not mandatory for employees could be a solution, like the TER.

For three weeks, TGV and Intercity travelers have been required to present a health pass. “25% on average” trains are checked, according to Didier Mathis. “It was planned from the start that the checks would be ad hoc and not systematic. Even if the SNCF hired a lot of people to do these upstream checks, it was impossible to be able to check all the trains affected by the health pass for The travellers”, he emphasizes.