Update: train strike disruption

A 36-HOUR rail strike is affecting SNCF services until 8.00 on Friday morning - but official estimates suggest up to 70% of long-distance trains will still be running.

Unions representing train drivers have called the walkout to protest about reforms to their job.

Revised timetables for local trains are available online at www.ter-sncf.com.

Six out of 10 TGVs should be running, except on the TGV Est route where the service is expected to be normal. Eurostar and Thalys are unaffected.

Local TER trains vary from one region to the next - but the national average is six out of 10 running. One of the worst-hit lines is Paris-Limoges-Toulouse where only a third of trains are operating.

In the Ile-de-France region, three-quarters of RER B trains are cancelled, and half of services on RER C, D and E.

Four unions, the CGT, Unsa, Sud-Rail and FiRST are behind today's walkout.

They claim that the SNCF is already trying to implement reforms of the railway system before a parliamentary debate which is scheduled for the beginning of next year.

The unions say that plans to create three new public bodies in 2015, to replace the SNCF and Réseau Ferré de France, which oversees the maintenance of the tracks, will degrade the quality of service.

Plans such as the SNCF’s Excellence 2020 and the RFF’s Réseau 2020 are also not properly financed, according to the unions who fear that the money will come at the expense of the working conditions of drivers.