• Passengers crowd a local train at the Gare du Nord train station in Paris. Thousands of travellers and commuters were left stranded as train drivers walked off the job on June 12, 2014, paralysing suburban and intercity rail services. Yoan Valat / EPA
    Passengers crowd a local train at the Gare du Nord train station in Paris. Thousands of travellers and commuters were left stranded as train drivers walked off the job on June 12, 2014, paralysing suburban and intercity rail services. Yoan Valat / EPA
  • Passengers are left stranded at Gare du Nord train station in Paris as train drivers walked off the job, paralysing suburban and intercity rail services. High-speed TGV trains were heavily disrupted as were commuter services linking the Paris suburbs to the city. Yoan Valat / EPA
    Passengers are left stranded at Gare du Nord train station in Paris as train drivers walked off the job, paralysing suburban and intercity rail services. High-speed TGV trains were heavily disrupted as were commuter services linking the Paris suburbs to the city. Yoan Valat / EPA
  • Passengers crowd a platform after a commuter train that arrived at the Gare du Nord railway station. Gonzalo Fuentes / Reuters
    Passengers crowd a platform after a commuter train that arrived at the Gare du Nord railway station. Gonzalo Fuentes / Reuters
  • Passengers sit on benches at Gare de l’Est train station in Paris during an SNCF French national railways strike. Yoan Valat / EPA
    Passengers sit on benches at Gare de l’Est train station in Paris during an SNCF French national railways strike. Yoan Valat / EPA
  • An SNCF employee assists commuters during a nationwide strike by SNCF railway workers. Half of scheduled train journey were cancelled across France on June 12, 2014 in the second day of a strike against rail reform that brought the worst disruption to rail traffic in years. Jean-Paul Pelissier / Reuters
    An SNCF employee assists commuters during a nationwide strike by SNCF railway workers. Half of scheduled train journey were cancelled across France on June 12, 2014 in the second day of a strike against rail reform that brought the worst disruption to rail traffic in years. Jean-Paul Pelissier / Reuters
  • A protester wearing a gas mask during a demonstration by striking employees of the French state rail company SNCF protesting a government railway reform project. Bertrand Guay / AFP
    A protester wearing a gas mask during a demonstration by striking employees of the French state rail company SNCF protesting a government railway reform project. Bertrand Guay / AFP
  • Commuters wait for a train the at Marseille train station during a nationwide strike by French SNCF railway workers. Jean-Paul Pelissier / Reuters
    Commuters wait for a train the at Marseille train station during a nationwide strike by French SNCF railway workers. Jean-Paul Pelissier / Reuters
  • Commuters run to catch a train at the Gare du Nord train station during a nationwide strike by SNCF employees. The government said it feared one of the longest stoppages in years could drag and disrupt end-of-school exams for thousands of students. Gonzalo Fuentes / Reuters
    Commuters run to catch a train at the Gare du Nord train station during a nationwide strike by SNCF employees. The government said it feared one of the longest stoppages in years could drag and disrupt end-of-school exams for thousands of students. Gonzalo Fuentes / Reuters
  • A passenger walks along empty platforms at Gare de Lyon train station in Paris during an SNCF French national railways strike. Yoan Valat / EPA
    A passenger walks along empty platforms at Gare de Lyon train station in Paris during an SNCF French national railways strike. Yoan Valat / EPA

Business

In pictures: Strike derails French train journeys

Olive Obina

June 15, 2014

  • English
  • Arabic

The French trade unions’ strike has caused the worst disruption to the country’s rail network in years. Unions are against a government plan to pull service operator SNCF and rail network RFF into a single holding structure but preserve them as separate entities.

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