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Rail traffic in France has been badly disrupted by a strike by controllers, forcing the national rail company to cancel 60 percent of trains today and over the weekend, AFP reported.

Protest actions are likely to resume around the Christmas and New Year holidays.

The SNCF foresees that from Friday to Sunday one of two regional trains, one of four high-speed trains and one of two trains of the classic interregional network "Intercite" will run, and all night trains will be cancelled.

For international connections, the company envisages normal traffic for Eurostar to Great Britain and Thalys to Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, as well as one of three high-speed trains to Switzerland, one of two to Germany, one in three to Italy and not a single train to Spain.

Normal traffic is expected to gradually resume on Monday (December 5), when three out of four high-speed trains will be running.

Belgian railway workers have announced a three-day strike

The reason for the strike is demands for better wages and career development, and in a global plan for greater recognition of the specifics of the work of around 10,000 train controllers of the ESSEF.

They have an essential role in terms of traffic and passenger safety.

Controllers, without whom the trains would not be able to run, have already put out strike notice over the Christmas and New Year weekends.

The management of SEN SEF expressed regret for the strike, precisely when "concrete measures were presented" to the unions.

The striking organizations, for their part, insist that they received only "crumbs".

France

railway transport

strike