A Christmas miracle: French children's trains in service despite transport strike
Record ID:
1449754
A Christmas miracle: French children's trains in service despite transport strike
- Title: A Christmas miracle: French children's trains in service despite transport strike
- Date: 22nd December 2019
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (DECEMBER 22, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CHILDREN WITH THEIR PARENTS CHECKING IN FOR TRAIN FOR CHILDREN TRAVELLING ALONE FOR HOLIDAYS CHILDREN'S TRAIN PASSENGERS WALKING BY (SOUNDBITE) (French) MOTHER OF BOY TRAVELLING ON CHILDREN'S TRAIN FROM ORLEANS, ALEXANDRA BILLARD, SAYING: "He (son) cried (when the children's train was initially cancelled). He was crying, and it was such a hassle since we've bought the tickets two months in advance. So, it was very complicated." BOY WEARING CAP READING (French): "JUNIOR AND CO." (NAME OF CHILDREN'S TRAIN) (SOUNDBITE) (French) 11-YEAR-OLD TRAVELLER ON CHILDREN'S TRAIN TO MARSEILLE, LUCAS LE MERLES, SAYING: "I would have been very disappointed (if the train remained cancelled) because I don't see him (his father) often. I miss him sometimes. I really want to see him." (JOURNALIST ASKING: "And now you'll spend Christmas with him?") "Yes. It's going to be cool to be with the entire family." BILLARD AND LE MERLES WALKING TOWARDS PLATFORM FOR CHILDREN'S TRAIN PARISIAN MOTHER, MARIE-LAURE BELLE, AND 11-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER, ROMANE DA SILVA, SPEAKING TO JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) (French) PARISIAN MOTHER OF GIRL TRAVELLING ON CHILDREN'S TRAIN, MARIE-LAURE BELLE, SAYING: "It was unfair. It was unfair for the children. We shouldn't deprive children of Christmas and prevent them from being with their families. I don't know who made that decision, but it was decided in a rush and without thinking it through." CHILDREN BEING ACCOMPANIED BY CHAPERONES TOWARDS TRAIN PLATFORM VARIOUS OF CHILDREN AND PARENTS PASSING THROUGH GATES TO PLATFORM (SOUNDBITE) (French) SNCF DUTY MANAGER, LOIC LEULIETTE, SAYING: "We are very relieved to be able to be able to run in the last minute 14 Junior and Co. special trains. Today, we're providing a solution for those who could find no other way. We've observed that the news of the initial cancellation of the service has been met with emotion, and it's called for, but it was the only reasonable solution. We weren't sure back then to be able to assure the train's security at 100 percent, and you know that for children, as for everybody else, security is very important." PARENTS WAVING GOODBYE TO CHILDREN FROM PLATFORM TRAIN DEPARTING
- Embargoed: 5th January 2020 09:31
- Keywords: Christmas season France strike SNCF children's train holidays pension reform train station transport strike
- Location: PARIS, FRANCE
- City: PARIS, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Lawmaking,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001BB24J7R
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: France's trains for children travelling alone during the holidays resumed service on Sunday (December 22) to the relief of parents who feared their sons and daughters could not celebrate Christmas with their families after an initial cancellation of the trains amid a massive transport strike.
The first children's trains for the holidays, dubbed "Junior and Co." by national rail operator SNCF, departed from Paris' Gare de Lyon station early Sunday morning and transported 140 children.
For 11-year-old Lucas da Silva, who was slated to spend the holidays with his father in the southern French city of Marseille, the decision to operate the children's trains was a Christmas miracle.
"I would have been very disappointed because I don't see him often," da Silva said. "I miss him sometimes. I really want to see him."
SNCF had announced earlier this week that the trains reserved for 5,000 children aged 4 to 14 were going to be disrupted for the Christmas season because of persisting strikes over the government's pension reform proposal.
The company reversed its decision on Friday (December 20) after the suspension of the service, which is widely used by families with parents living separately, was met with public disdain.
"It was unfair for the children," said Parisian mother Marie-Laure Bellle, whose 11-year-old daughter was set to board the train. "We shouldn't deprive children of Christmas and prevent them from being with their families."
More than 1,000 children will be able to take the children's train on Sunday, according to SNCF, with seven Paris-Marseille roundtrips planned throughout the day.
Two weeks of nationwide industrial action in France have disrupted railways and roads, shut some schools and brought more than half a million people onto the streets to protest against President Emmanuel Macron's wide-ranging reform plan.
Macron aims to streamline the generous state pension system and prod people to work until the age of 64, past the legal retirement age of 62.
(Production: Thierry Chiarello, Ardee Napolitano) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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