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

 

213,647 thoughts on “Railway Industry in France

  1. Excellent to be visiting your blog again, it has been months for me. Rightly, this article that I’ve been served for therefore long. I want this article to finish my assignment within the faculty, and it has the same topic together with your article. Thanks for the ton of valuable help, nice share. offpage seo expert,

  2. I am impressed. I don’t think Ive met anyone who knows as much about this subject as you do. You are truly well informed and very intelligent. You wrote something that people could understand and made the subject intriguing for everyone. Really, great blog you have got here. เว็บแทงบอล

  3. We are a premium betting website, serving for more than 9 years, including more than 10 casino camps for you. Convenience with an auto system. Register for free. Not even a single baht cost. Service with a quality team Ready to solve problems for you perfectly, stable, safe ทางเข้า789 The No. 1 betting website in Thailand.

  4. Hire the best developers in the business. CronJ’s team of developers creates a benchmark of working standards for every project. Contact us today to get in touch with excellence! hire react developers to become the pioneer in the market by developing intuitive, performance-optimized, and conversion generating apps.

  5. EDMBET Online Slot Site Play Online Casino We are the main provider of the national leading online slots website. Gather both Thai and foreign web slots come in one place

  6. เว็บตรงไม่ล็อคยูส เป็นอีกหนึ่งเว็บไซต์ที่หลายคนกำลังตามหา เพราะเราคือผู้ให้บริการ เกมคาสิโนออนไลน์ เกมการพนันออนไลน์ ที่มีความโปร่งใส ไม่หลอกลวง และไม่มีโกงลูกค้าอย่างแน่นอน สำหรับใครที่ยังไม่เคยทราบมาก่อนว่า เว็บไม่ล็อคยูส คืออะไรนั้น วันนี้เรา sa4567 มีคำตอบมาฝากกัน

  7. สำหรับผู้ที่กำลังมองหาเจ้ามือให้เล่นพนันเกมส์สล็อตออนไลน์ ที่มีความน่าเชื่อถือ ระบบดีเยี่ยม และมาแรงเป็นที่ 1 ของทุกวันนี้ต้องเลือกสมัครใช้บริการ สล็อตpg ค่ายเกมส์สล็อตที่มาแรง ระบบดีเยี่ยม ทันสมัยสนุกกับเกมสล็อตที่ให้โบนัสง่าย แจ๊คพ็อตแตกเยอะ เล่นจริง จ่ายจริง ยอดเป็นล้านบาทก็ไม่โกง ค่ายเกม PG

  8. Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love learning more on this topic. If possible, as you gain expertise, would you mind updating your blog with extra information? It is extremely helpful for me. How to lose belly fat exercise

  9. Dragon Hatch ดราก้อนแฮทช์ มาสนุกกับสล็อตไข่มังกรของค่ายที่ปั่นเบทพนันขั้นต่ำเพียงแค่ 2 บาท สล็อต 5 แถว ที่มีการจ่ายเงินตัวคูณโบนัสสูงสุด 15000 เท่า ลุ้นง่าย กราฟฟิคดีเยี่ยมเป็นที่ 1 ในใจสายปั่นสล็อตทุกคน สล็อต PG

  10. The the next occasion I read a blog, I really hope who’s doesnt disappoint me around this one. What i’m saying is, I know it was my substitute for read, but I actually thought youd have something fascinating to say. All I hear is often a few whining about something you could fix if you ever werent too busy searching for attention. Fingerprint door lock

  11. I have not checked in here for a while as I thought it was getting boring, but the last several posts are great quality so I guess I?ll add you back to my daily bloglist. You deserve it my friend RFID Door Lock

  12. Interesting topic for a blog. I have been searching the Internet for fun and came upon your website. Fabulous post. Thanks a ton for sharing your knowledge! It is great to see that some people still put in an effort into managing their websites. I’ll be sure to check back again real soon. 토픽스

  13. Such a very useful article. Very interesting to read this article.I would like to thank you for the efforts you had made for writing this awesome article. buy primers

  14. Nice thanks for sharing informative post like this keep posting if like more details visit my website linkhttps://mulemasters.in/

  15. To consider obtained on your own website however establishing therapy simply just a tiny bit of submits. Pleasant technique for prospective upcoming, We have been book-marking at a stretch protected kinds quit goes up with each other. hotmail sign in

  16. This is my first time i visit here. I found so many interesting stuff in your blog especially its discussion. From the tons of comments on your articles, I guess I am not the only one having all the enjoyment here keep up the good work Copier Machine

  17. Thank you for some other informative website. The place else may just I get that kind of information written in such a perfect method? I have a venture that I am simply now running on, and I’ve been at the glance out for such info. play school near me

  18. Thank you because you have been willing to share information with us. we will always appreciate all you have done here because I know you are very concerned with our. 바카라사이트

  19. Awesome article! I want people to know just how good this information is in your article. It’s interesting, compelling content. Your views are much like my own concerning this subject. 토픽스

  20. Good day. Very cool website!! Guy .. Beautiful .. Amazing .. I will bookmark your blog and take the feeds additionally…I’m glad to find numerous useful information right here within the article. Thanks for sharing. 해외 온라인 카지노

  21. We are really grateful for your blog post. You will find a lot of approaches after visiting your post. I was exactly searching for. Thanks for such post and please keep it up. Great work. Manual Work

  22. Upload your beta versions to InstallOnAir.com so testers can install them. Think of InstallOnAir as your personal or in-house App Store for testing. Invite or recruit testers through our easy-to-use Dashboard.

  23. Cabinet DIY is the leading cabinet manufacturer and pioneer in interior designing. Cabinet DIY has a team of experienced team of experts who can carry out cabinet installation processes effectively.
    modern kitchen cabinets

  24. An impressive share, I just now given this onto a colleague who was simply carrying out a small analysis during this. And that he the fact is bought me breakfast since I discovered it for him.. smile. So ok, i’ll reword that: Thnx for any treat! But yeah Thnkx for spending enough time go over this, Personally i think strongly about it and enjoy reading on this topic. If it is possible, as you become expertise, would you mind updating your website with a lot more details? It really is extremely of great help for me. Huge thumb up just for this text! Mobile Stand Price In Pakistan

Leave a Reply

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