SNCF finds 63 missing trains

Staff bonus scheme has helped rail operator be reunited with carriages missing for years

MORE than 60 train carriages that were lost by the SNCF over several years have been found again - thanks to a cash incentive for railway workers who helped find the missing wagons.

The French railway operator put out an appeal earlier this year after an audit found it had mislaid 150 train carriages throughout the network, without any trace of where they had ended up.

Staff were given an €80 incentive for finding the missing wagons - mostly freight carriages - which had disappeared without trace for more than two years, costing the operator about €1million a year.

A union spokesman told France Info: "The bonus made everyone more attentive."

As a result, the SNCF has now been reunited with 63 missing carriages - which were found abandoned in warehouses, sidings and disused stations.