Delays to French trains and flights increased sharply last year

2022 was one of the worst years of the past decade for train and air travel in France, an official evaluation has found, with more trains and planes delayed than in any year since the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Passengers wait for a high-speed TGV train to Paris, at Saint Jean de Luz train station in western France, on October 31, 2020. © AP / Bob Edme

Just over 14 percent of high-speed TGV trains, 16 percent of cross-border services and nearly 17 percent of regular intercity express trains were delayed in France last year, according to the government's Transport Service Quality Authority (AQST).

In its annual report, released on Tuesday, it noted that flights were also subject to disruption, with around 19 percent of domestic flights and 28 percent of both medium- and long-haul international flights experiencing delays.

That represents a worse track record for each of those services compared to the previous year, or even further back.

"All rail services have seen their punctuality deteriorate on the whole, whether compared to 2019 or 2021. Indeed, for TGV and international services, 2022 is one of the worst years since 2012 alongside 2017 and 2018," the authority said.

Traffic, strikes, heat

The AQST puts the disruption down to a combination of increased demand, extreme weather and strikes.

It notes that more passengers were travelling last year as Covid restrictions were lifted. TGV trains in particular saw a bump in traffic.

Increased demand in turn led to more trains running, which meant that if one service was disrupted, the knock-on effects multiplied, the report said.

Meanwhile France saw its hottest year on record, with heatwaves forcing trains to reduce their speed and fires prompting cancellations. Storms, heavy rains and snow caused further disruptions.

Strikes also took a toll on both the rail and aviation sector, with a number of industrial disputes throughout 2022. 

For those flying, staff shortages at airlines and airports that cut jobs during the pandemic added to the hold-ups.

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Worst-hit routes

The average delay on TGV trains last year came in at 35 minutes, the AQST said, while Intercité express services were delayed a whopping 53 minutes on average. 

Domestic and medium-haul flights suffered average delays of 46 minutes. For long-haul connections, the average was 51 minutes.

Certain routes were especially badly hit, notably the TGVs between Paris and Mâcon-Loché near Lyon and Paris and Chambery, both of which saw more than 30 percent of services delayed.

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For cross-border trains, connections between Paris and northern Italy, Barcelona in Spain and Frankfurt in Germany were the least punctual. 

And for air travel, flights between Paris and New York, Toronto and Bangkok suffered the most delays among long-haul services. Tel Aviv-Paris, Tunis-Marseille, Lisbon-Lyon and Rome-Paris were the most disrupted shorter flights.

On the whole, though, fewer trains were cancelled in 2022 compared to 2021 or 2019. (Cancellation figures weren't available for flights.)

The picture was also slightly better in the Paris region, where punctuality generally improved a little compared to 2019 – with the notable exception of the problematic regional RER B line.