Railway Industry in France

TGV 1

1. Industry Overview:

In France, one of the most popular transport modes is train.  SNCF is France’s national railway, providing high speed, overnight and local services in France and beyond into Spain, Switzerland and Italy.

>> http://www.tgv-europe.com/en

Types of Train in France:

01-TGV

02-Lunea

03-Teoz

04-TER

06-Intercites

Railway industry is quite similar to airline industry, as it sells seats for a transport from an origin to a destination. The price depends on journey, class, and date of booking. Thus, railway industry can be placed in Quadrant 2, where its service has variable prices for a predictable duration. This industry also has the appropriate characteristics to apply revenue management strategies. Those characteristics are:

– Inflexible capacity: the number of seats on a train is fixed

– Variable and uncertain demand: the demand is different depending on the time of day, day of week, origin-destination pairs, and purpose of travel

– Perishable inventory: the unoccupied seat cannot be inventoried, and the revenue of that seat is missed

– Low marginal cost and high production cost

– Product can be sold in advance

– Heterogeneous customers with different segments, varying by age, purpose of travel, independent or group, etc.

However, there are some differences that make the revenue management of railway industry is little bit different than that of airline industry.

More difficult to forecast demand and to have the accurate number of travelers on a service: no check-in procedure, open tickets (rail pass) generally allow passengers to travel on any rail service, walk up tickets are very common (a large number of passengers purchase their tickets on the day from the station)

Less difficult to deal with overbooking: passengers are often allowed to stand during train journeys hence increasing capacity beyond the number of seats

———

 2. Space

Railway industry defines space implicitly.

Normally, a train has two classes: Economy (2nd Class) and Comfort (1st Class). The seating options and services are different for each class. The price is same for different seating options in a class.

 Economy Class:
01-Class2
 Comfort Class:

01-Class 1

Trains, especially TGV has “TGV bar”, which provides a wide selection of meals and sweet snacks available for purchase. Additionally, the TGV bar offers films on DVD, magazines, games for children, Paris Metro tickets, even USB sticks for purchase. There is also a rolling snack cart that comes to the customers’ seats.

01-TGV Bar

For additional revenue, TGV offers Premium service includes 1st Class seat, meal service, and access to the TGV lounge at the train stations.

Personally, I would charge difference fares for different seating options in each class. A group will want to pay more to have a Club 4 seat. A couple will want the Duo seat or Club 2 seat. And an individual traveler will want a solo seat. As the number of seat are fixed, we can charge for each option, rather than a “first comes first served” policy.

I’m also thinking about a mini-cinema on train, especially overnight train. Normally, the overnight train have load factor less than 80%, so the train can use one car to transform into a mini-cinema with a projector and a screen. When the train is busy, the car will be transformed in normal guest car again.

——

3. Time

Railway industry defines time implicitly.

Although the duration of a journey is determined, the railway industry sells a journey rather than specifically selling time. In addition, there may be issues that cause the increase/decrease in duration of the journey.

However, the railway industry also tries to sell time explicitly with the Rail pass. With Rail pass, customers can have unlimited travel on the national rail network of France for a fixed number of days. The choices are 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9-day pass within a one-month period. Travel days may be used consecutively or non-consecutively.  Thus, the fare becomes rate-per-day, not anymore rate-per-trip.

>> http://www.raileurope.com/rail-tickets-passes/france-pass/index.html

The industry can sell time explicitly by providing Rail pass with weekly or monthly unit. However, I think it will not be effective as it makes the demand forecasting much more complicated.  Half-day unit won’t make sense as a trip is normally more than 3 hours.

——–

4. Price

Tickets can be purchased 60 to 120 days in advance depending on the route.

Ticket discounts are based on advance purchase, availability, and certain restrictions. Everyone is eligible to receive discounted fares by purchasing an Economy or Comfort class ticket in advance. Youth and seniors can enjoy specific discounts as well. Discounted tickets are available for youth (under 26 of age), seniors (age 60 and over) and children (generally ages 4-11) but should be verified with each product.

Price at 1 week before departure
01-Price-1st class-10AM-1wk

Price at 2 weeks before departure

01-Price-1st class-10AM-2wk

Price at 3 weeks before departure

01-Price-1st class-10AM-3wk

Price at 4 weeks before departure

01-Price-1st class-10AM-4wk

Normally, prices are reduced for 1or 2 week-advanced purchase, slightly reduced for 3-week-advanced purchased, and stay same for more-than-4-week-advanced purchase.

The physical rate fences are the classes:
01-Booking-Class

 

The non-physical rate fences are age, season ticket, and loyalty

01-Booking-Rate Fences-1

01-Booking-Rate Fences-2

01-Booking-Rate Fences-3

01-Booking-Rate Fences-4

As the rate fences are now already too sophisticated, I would rather consolidate these fences than create new fences to confuse customers.

 

(-Thao Ly)

——–

References:

http://www.raileurope.com

http://www.tgv-europe.com

http://www.sncf.co.uk/

Amstrong and Messneir, 2010. Railway revenue management: Overview and Methods

Schroeder, Braun, and Schnieder. Revenue management in the railway industry

 

159,460 thoughts on “Railway Industry in France

  1. 6 ماهه صفحه اول گوگل ،8 ماهه لینک اول تا سوم ،سئو سایت ،بهینه سازی سایت ،طراحی سایت فروشگاهی 14 روزه فوری با هدف گذاری دقیق و برنامه ریزی مشخص و سرمایه معین با یک طراحی سایت بهینه شده ، سایت خود را در در کلمه کلیدی مورد نظرتان در موتور جستجوگر گوگل بالا بیاورید تا به درآمد عالی برسید. ” فقط 6 ماه سایت تان را به ما بسپارید ” .

    https://seoraz.com/

  2. Scholar Ace- your one stop that gathers all relevant and reliable information regarding international scholarships for students of every level and disciple. Whether you’re applying for undergraduate, graduate, postgraduate levels, PhD, postdoctoral applicants, research programs, diplomas, internships or summer programs, students aspiring to study abroad or aiming for a good scholarship can now locate recent scholarship openings, financial aid information and outstanding tips to ace the admission requirements all in one place and with easy access.
    https://www.scholarace.com/

  3. You re in point of fact a just right webmaster. The website loading speed is amazing. It kind of feels that you’re doing any distinctive trick. Moreover, The contents are masterpiece. you have done a fantastic activity on this subject! Learnerships in Gauteng, South africa

  4. Pinoy Tambayan – Watch Pinoy Channels and Watch all the best TV Series from ABS-CBN, GMA 7, TV 5, and all the best Pinoy Teleserye Telenovela – Filipino stuff Online for Free!

    https://herpal.su/

  5. Human nature by default has been programmed to be socially active to a certain extent. Some people are more active, while others are less so!

    However, people have always been looking for ways to connect and network with each other. And, in this age of digitisation, people have found ways to be socially active on the internet, which is possible with the advent of the numerous social networking platforms and apps.
    https://vipleyo.com
    Now, even relationships begin, grow and end on social media. People no longer need a personal handshake or face-to-face meeting.

    Social media sites have also grown in numbers by leaps and bounds. As per the statistics revealed on Statista, approximately 2 billion users used social networking sites and apps in 2015. And, with the increased use of mobile devices, this number is likely to cross the 2.6 billion mark by 2018.

  6. They’re produced by the very best degree developers who will be distinguished for your polo dress creating. You’ll find polo Ron Lauren inside exclusive array which include particular classes for men, women. Jobs in south Africa

  7. blockchain, Web development, Mobile app development, Software Developement, Innovative digital solutions, cutting edge technology, technology solutions, Mobile technology

  8. Today, it is easier than ever to find legitimate, home-based jobs. Perusing the Internet, you will find work from home jobs in most every occupation from medical, science and engineering to graphic design, accounting, and management.

    Visit https://www.just.jobs/search now to get jobs instantly

    More and more businesses are offering these types of work to provide flexibility for their workforce as they are more mobile . These types of positions give professional moms the freedom to work around family activities and events.

  9. Thanks for providing recent updates regarding the concern, I look forward to read more.

  10. It is common practice for Internet search users to not click through pages and pages of search results, so where a site ranks in a search Play Slideshowresults page is essential for directing more traffic toward the site. The higher a website naturally ranks in organic results of a search, the greater the chance that that site will be visited by a user.

    Use this so tool for complete set https://dinorank.online/

    SEO helps to ensure that a site is accessible to a search engine and improves the chances that the site will be found by the search engine. SEO is typically a set of “white hat” best practices that webmasters and Web content producers follow to help them achieve a better ranking in search engine results

  11. سبک کلاسیک را می توانید در دکوراسیون

    مکان های قدیمی مانند موزه ها ببینید .

    مبلمان اداری سی رن از سبک کلاسیک

    در تولیدات و ساخت مبلمان اداری خود

    استفاده کرده و توانسته نظر افرادی را که به این سبک علاقه دارند را جلب کند .

    این سبک برای کسانی که سنتگرا هستند و اعتقادی به مدرنیزه شدن دنیای

    امروز ندارند می تواند انتخاب خوبی باشد .
    مبلمان اداری کلاسیک

  12. Snipax Investigation agency is a Detective Agency in Mumbai, Which Provides Detective Services in Mumbai and We specialize in Pre and Post Matrimonial Investigation in PAN India Basis
    Detective agency in Mumbai, Detectives in Mumbai, Detective in Mumbai, Detective agencies in Mumbai, Detective services in Mumbai, Mumbai detectives, Private detectives in Mumbai, Private investigators in Mumbai, Private investigation agency in Mumbai, Detective agency, Detective Mumbai, Private investigator Mumbai, Detective services Mumbai, Detective agency Mumbai, Private investigation service, Private detective Mumbai, Investigation services Mumbai, Investigation agency Mumbai, Investigation services, Detective agency in Andheri, Detective in Andheri, Detective agency in Bandra, Private investigation Andheri, Detective in Andheri, Detective in Malad
    https://snipax.com/

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *