by

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

 

162,833 thoughts on “Railway Industry in France”

  3. I’d must seek advice from you here. Which isn’t some thing It’s my job to do! I spend time reading an article that will make people think. Also, thank you allowing me to comment! 카지노

  5. We are a global online store providing the highest quality psychedelics, DMT, LSD, and pills. At Global High Store, we strive to provide a safe and secure … buy tramadol

  6. Quietum Plus The Quietum Plus is a dietary supplement formulated to treat hearing problems including conditions like tinnitus. When taken consistently, the supplement improves cognitive processes – allowing them to become faster whilst supporting hearing, reducing stress, and providing a healthy inflammatory response to the brain tissues.

  7. chat شات عربي الجديد لكل أهل العرب قابل أصدقاء جدد حول العالم والوطن العربى وإستمتع معنا بـ دردشة عربية كتابية وصوتية غير محدودة على الروقان تعارف بدون تسجيل مجانًا.

  10. Alpilean The secret behind the Alpilean – Alpine Ice Hack powerful formula is the discovery about the biggest cause of weight gain, which is low internal body temperature.

  11. คาสิโนออนไลน์ FOMOBET88 อันดับหนึ่งในประเทศไทย เจ้าใหญ่ เจ้าดัง พร้อมให้บริการทุกท่านตลอด 24 ชั่วโมง ด้วยทีมงานคุณภาพ เกมส์คาสิโนยอดนิยมอย่าง บาคาร่า สล็อต ไพ่ แทงบอล หวยออนไลน์ แค่คลิก คาสิโนออนไลน์

  12. As I am looking at your writing, slotsite I regret being unable to do outdoor activities due to Corona 19, and I miss my old daily life. If you also miss the daily life of those days, would you please visit my site once? My site is a site where I post about photos and daily life when I was free.

  13. Even the silent moon Even the wind that touches your fingertips probably resembles you When 카지노커뮤니티 I say this, somehow My heart is spreading So I wrote and erased it again I don’t know where it goes singing this song It’s gotta be something real Take you out of my drying memories

  18. It’s really great. Thank you for providing a quality article. There is something you might be interested in. Do you know ? If you have more questions, please come to my site and check it out!
    https://tomydna.com/

  26. Wow! This can be one particular of the most useful blogs We have ever arrive across on this subject. Actually Great. I’m also an expert in this topic so I can understand your hard work. acim

  28. You might comment on the order system of the blog. You should chat it’s splendid. Your blog audit would swell up your visitors. I was very pleased to find this site.I wanted to thank you for this great read!! bokep indo

  32. If you’re a guy, the way you wear your hair says a lot about your character and the lifestyle you have, just the way it is with women’s hairstyles. And since you always need to put your best face forward regardless of your gender, you have to make sure that whatever hairstyles for men you choose to adopt has to be appropriate for the shape of your face. Doing so will make you look more attractive. check here

  33. Popular Guides domains

    Comparative blog to find the best hosting. Compare the best hosting for wordpress and your cloud services. We offer the best guides and tips to buy the best accommodation, if you are looking for a hosting provider that offers flexibility, professionalism and options this is your site. If you are looking for a managed WordPress hosting solution, this is your best decision. Find and compare and succeed with your business.

  34. Cokernutx’s app
    library is one of its standout features. The platform provides a selection of well-known programmes and games, many of which are not accessible via official app stores. To locate fresh and intriguing applications, users may do a specialised app search or browse through other categories.

  37. Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon.

  38. Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon. guide

  42. I felt exceptionally glad while perusing this site. This was truly exceptionally enlightening site for me. I truly preferred it. This was truly a sincere post. Much obliged!.  redhotrobot

  45. Hello, this is a very nice website. I also run a website. Mobile and PC versions are also operated as the best solution. Golden-evolution is very proud of you.
    카지노사이트

  49. Iconwin adalah penyedia Judi game slot Deposit Pulsa 10rb tanpa potongan online terpercaya di Indonesia. Sebagai agen judi slot dengan game judi online & bonus jackpot kasino slot pulsa

Leave a Reply

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