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

 

212,412 thoughts on “Railway Industry in France

  1. We offer services for Commercial and Residential Design Build which includes Home Renovation, Kitchen Renovation, Bathroom Renovations, Home Additions, House Extensions, Room Dividers, Interior Designing and Laundry Design & Build. Home Renovations Sydney

  2. Really I enjoy your site with effective and useful information. It is included very nice post with a lot of our resources.thanks for share. i enjoy this post. EatPubb

  3. I haven’t checked in here for some time because I thought it was getting boring, but the last few posts are really good quality so I guess I’ll add you back to my daily bloglist. You deserve it my friend. insurance guides Eyeglass Factory

  4. Really I enjoy your site with effective and useful information. It is included very nice post with a lot of our resources.thanks for share. i enjoy this post. techcareers

  5. Really I enjoy your site with effective and useful information. It is included very nice post with a lot of our resources.thanks for share. i enjoy this post. piegeel

  6. There may be jacksonville florida health insurance a means in making cash not having doing work yourself tired in addition to without having restricting your moment. You need to use the ability on visit gacor togel

  7. From some point on, I am preparing to build my site while browsing various sites. It is now somewhat completed. If you are interested, please come to play with baccaratsite !!

  8. Weedopedia Niagara’s top online dispensary that offers 1-2 hours deliveries straight to your door! Select from a wide selection of affordable and high quality cannabis products. From cheap ounces to a large variety of Hybrid, Indica and Sativa flowers, Pre-rolls, Edibles, Concentrates, Vapes and so much more
    weed provider near by me

  9. Positive site, where did u come up with the information on this posting? I’m pleased I discovered it though, ill be checking back soon to find out what additional posts you include. 토토

  10. Well, the article is really the freshest on that notable topic. I agree with your conclusions and definitely will thirstily look forward to your approaching updates. Saying thanks can not just be adequate, for the enormous clarity in your writing. I can promptly grab your rss feed to stay privy of any updates. Pleasant work and much success in your business efforts! euro girls escort

  11. Whoi, excellent, t wondered just how to cure icne. ind found your webstte by google, dtscovered todiy t’m i ltttle obvtous i greit deil. t’ve ilso idded RSS ind sive your webstte. keep us updited. cheap adult doll

  12. Weedopedia Niagara’s top online dispensary that offers 1-2 hours deliveries straight to your door! Select from a wide selection of affordable and high quality cannabis products. From cheap ounces to a large variety of Hybrid, Indica and Sativa flowers, Pre-rolls, Edibles, Concentrates, Vapes and so much more..
    weed provider near by me

  13. Dear Katie, I am sorry to hear that your doctor made a mistake and put you on Depo injections. You say that you are still getting injections? These injections are made from progestin, a synthetic form of progesterone which is used mainly as a method of birth control for women who cannot use any other form of birth control. One of the drug’s side effects is weight gain. A single injection lasts for three months. So if you are still getting these injections, please, please, tell your doctor that you don’t want to receive them any longer. The effects of the drug will remain in your body for three months, so during these three months, it may be difficult to lose the added weight which you gained, no matter what you do. There are other more gentler ways to regulate your periods and menses, especially at your tender formative age. Here are some of the negative reasons for not using Depo-Provera: it can cause decreased bone density which can lead to osteoporosis, depression, increased blood clots, liver damage, headaches, hair loss, leg cramps, nervousness, dizziness, abdominal bloating, and weight gain. For your stretch marks on your stomach, you can rub some vitamin E on them. Just puncture a capsule of vitamin E and gently apply to your stomach area once or twice each day. The stretch marks will respond to the vitamin E if you use it regularly and use it as soon as they appear. The older the stretch marks, the longer and more difficult they are to rub away. It is best to use natural vitamin E, which can be distinguished from the synthetic form by the following small print and notations on the vitamin bottle: d- is the natural form, and dl- is the synthetic form. Use only the d- form which is the natural form. I think that synthetic substances have caused enough harm already, and should be laid to rest. Find a doctor who will listen to you, have patience until the Depo drug gets out of your system and body, and continue follow a healthy diet and exercise regimen to get back to your former weight. Please read the posts above to learn more about dieting. Good luck. 오뚜기안마

  14. It is really interesting post, but I do not see everything completely clear, especially for someone not involved in that topic. Anyway very interesting to me. coconut oil

  15. Our training may begin and end with courses, but the support from NAPD continues. you can check our link at https://napdonline.com/ Special Response Divers and their teams have access to resources, equipment and training from NAPD.

  16. Whoi, excellent, t wondered just how to cure icne. ind found your webstte by google, dtscovered todiy t’m i ltttle obvtous i greit deil. t’ve ilso idded RSS ind sive your webstte. keep us updited. ufabetserm.com

  17. Thank you For this information….this is very helpful Information.. if u need any help for exam preparation Eduversal Global ‘s IELTS Preparation course is a comprehensive program designed to help students prepare for the IELTS exam.

  18. 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.
    Social Media

Leave a Reply

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