The SNCF has canceled train departures, including some TGVs, due to the heat which is hitting railway equipment hard, it said on Wednesday July 8.
This concerned and will concern, for the days of Tuesday to Thursday, a third of the trains on the Paris-Clermont, Paris-Limoges-Toulouse and Transversale Sud (Bordeaux-Marseille) lines. A quarter of Intercity train departures are therefore canceled throughout France.
In the TER, cancellations have been decided “in regions where temperatures are exceptionally high”. SNCF did not provide further details. Finally, she announced “some marginal adaptations for TGV trains (Inoui and Ouigo) in order to preserve and ensure the maintenance of our equipment”. Asked about the number of fewer TGV departures and the lines concerned, the public company did not respond.
Extreme heat poses multiple problems for train traffic. The catenaries, the cables above the tracks which supply the trains with electricity, relax and can end up breaking when a train passes, which immediately cuts the power, and therefore the air conditioning. The trains themselves, especially when they have aged, are at increased risk of various failures.
The SNCF indicated that it had strengthened maintenance on its TGVs, with the implementation of “three eights” in its technician centers, particular attention to “preventive maintenance”, and dedicated teams (“task forces”) on each axis.
