Travellers face Easter rail delays

PARIS, France -- A rail strike has caused continued disruption for travellers in France at the start of the Easter holidays.

Only about half of all trains on main lines were running normally on Saturday forcing many travellers onto jam-packed roads.

Worst affected areas were the main roads between Paris and France's second city, Lyon, as well regional rail links around Paris and the south coast city of Marseille.

The strike, which is in its 10th day is estimated to have cost the state-run railway, SNCF, more than one billion francs ($137 million), newspaper reports say.

The government reached agreement with representatives from the large trade unions, including the Communist-led CGT, over pay and increased staffing levels on Thursday.

As a result high-speed TGV trains have left on time for destinations in the French Alps, the Atlantic coast, as well as European destinations of London and Brussels, SNCF said.

It added, that only 23 percent of all workers were now on strike, compared to 35 percent on Friday.

But the dispute has been compounded by two small dissident trade unions pledging to continue to take strike action, making it difficult to reach an overall settlement.

The FGAAC and SUD-Rail unions rejected a major SNCF concession, saying a pledge to put off a controversial restructuring plan was not enough to ensure the railway would not be privatised in future.

Travellers' have been hit hard at the start of the Easter holiday season.

"They should provide at least a minimum service," one young woman told TF1 television at Paris's Gare de Lyon station.

"There are a lot of Italians here trying to get home for the holiday. You can't hold two countries hostage like this."

Road traffic was heavy due to the strikes and holiday.

"Traffic jams are appearing just about everywhere in the network," the Centre for Highway Information warned. "For the moment, the stretch between Paris and Lyon is the most frequented, with several problems reported."

Transport Minister Jean-Claude, himself a Communist and former SNCF worker, warned the two unions against isolating themselves and provoking "the attacks looming on the horizon."

He did not specify what type of attacks he meant, but the strike has revived discussion about enforcing a minimum service on all train lines.

This has prompted President Jacques Chirac and other conservative politicians to support such an idea.

The compromise package announced by the management on Thursday offered improved pay, more recruitment and a delay to a controversial restructuring plan which SNCF chief Louis Gallois said would cost the railway around 800 million francs.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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SNCF

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