TGV tickets to be checked at door

TICKET checks are being tightened on TGV trains to improve security with inspectors greeting passengers at each door of trains on the Paris-Rennes route.

SNCF customer relations director Patricia Lacoste said the plan had three aims: to improve the welcome service, to combat fraud and to reduce violence on trains as 60% of attacks on staff were by travellers without tickets.

Stationing ticket inspectors at the train doors would stop people without tickets getting on the trains. The move is being tested on the Paris-Rennes route and will be extended to the four other lines later this year.

Thalys trains already use door checks to stop fraud and checks are done at the platform entrance for iDTGV services and for TGVs at Marseille St Charles.

Last October an inspector was stabbed and seriously injured on a Lyon-Strasbourg Corail train after he asked a man for his ticket. The incident led to a nationwide walk-out of rail staff, bringing services across the country to a halt for several hours.

Ms Lacoste said SNCF would be taking on 100 extra staff who would also be involved at levels of the company - with the aim being for the move to be self-financing by cutting down on fraud and making sure passengers had valid tickets.

Photo: Sebastian Terfloth