Protests As France Plans Huge Cuts in Train Lines

It is one of the most stunning train journeys in France, from the historic Normandy city of Caen, through Le Mans and on towards the Loire wine-growing region and the town of Tours. Yet radical changes aimed at reducing the massive cost of the French railways to the state may close the line, and many others, for ever.

The result has been 'a mass grab for the alarm chain', as newspapers in France describe it, and a spate of protests.

Yesterday riot police were at Paris's Montparnasse station as hundreds marched against what the demonstrators say are swingeing cuts. Their claims strike an emotional chord in a country which sees its generally very efficient, clean and cheap public transport as a part of national heritage.

'It's a crisis. That's the only word for it,' said Jean-Claude DeLarue, president of the national association of public transport passengers. 'The situation is catastrophic.'

The crisis is relative - French trains are still vastly superior to their British counterparts - but does threaten the closure of large numbers of branch lines as well as connections that join regional centres. In the west of France, where the SNCF, the state train company, is trying to reduce losses of €20 million (£14m) each year, more than 70 trains will stop running, under current proposals. The result, according to a joint communiqué issued by local parliamentarians in the western port city of La Rochelle, will be half a million passengers left on the platform. 'We will become a "désert ferroviaire", a railway desert,' said one local MP.

The measures are among several put forward by the right-wing government of Dominique de Villepin, the Prime Minister, and President Jacques Chirac, to economise on public spending. The French economy is growing at less than two per cent annually, unemployment is still very high and social security costs are increasing. But, like a recent request by the transport minister for people to drive more slowly to save petrol and lives, the proposals on the railways have provoked a visceral counter-reaction. The ire of the demonstrators in the west is partially fired by long-standing provincial resentment of Paris-based politicians taking decisions that ignore - and are ignorant of - the needs of the regions.

Another issue, raised by the demonstrators at Montparnasse, is the growing commercialisation of the railway network and the concentration of all available resources on a few major lines - to the detriment of small communities.

'French railways are becoming a network of hi-tech, top speed trains and the SNCF a hi-tech, top speed organisation,' said DeLarue. 'No one is interested in traditional small lines or the suburban trains. They are just interested in wealthy passengers.'

DeLarue's criticism is not entirely unjust, say analysts. Competition from low-cost airlines has forced SNCF into a whole range of new measures designed to keep passengers, especially those with money, on the rails. Passengers on the special Paris-to-Marseille fast TGV service can now choose when they buy their ticket whether they want to make the journey in a silent 'well-being environment' or if they prefer to travel in the train's 'activity' carriages. SNCF officials have instituted wine-tasting sessions on their prestigious new Paris-Marseille route. Tapas and Mediterranean snacks have replaced the standard SNCF croque monsieurs and the buffets on many TGV lines now sell paperbacks and DVDs.

The problem however is unlikely to be solved by a change in menus. Some want to use the proceeds of the recently agreed privatisation of the motorway toll system to finance the railways. Others have called for a special tax on the profits of petrol companies. Neither measure is likely to secure the funding of one of the world's best train systems.

Government ministers have defended their plans, accusing local politicians of exploiting the projected cuts to score political points. 'There has been no final decision on any line,' said Christian Estrosi, an infrastructure minister.

Everyone knows, however, that time is running out. Though negotiations are continuing between local representatives, the SNCF and the government, a new timetable has to be introduced in mid-December at the latest.