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

 

203,580 thoughts on “Railway Industry in France”

  7. I have read a few of the articles on your website now, and I really like your style of blogging. I added it to my favorites blog site list and will be checking back soon. Please check out my site as well and let me know what you think. cc shop

  9. I’m so happy to finally find a post with what I want. 안전놀이터순위 You have inspired me a lot. If you are satisfied, please visit my website and leave your feedback. 스포츠토토

  10. Your post is very helpful to get some effective tips to reduce weight properly. You have shared various nice photos of the same. I would like to thank you for sharing these tips. Surely I will try this at home. Keep updating more simple tips like this.  fcalc.net

  11. Hey ! great post ,Your site was wonderful with helpful information, it gave me a clear understanding, and it was simple for me to understand. I thoroughly enjoyed it, it was a wonderful blog, and I thank you for such a fantastic blog. Please continue to write more and more.
    abogados de divorcio de nueva jersey

  13. Particular interviews furnish firsthand message on mart size, industry trends, ontogeny trends, capitalist landscape and outlook, etc. fcalc.net

  14. I am aura working for beautymagnetism. as PR consultant. With more than 6 years experience in PR and Digital Industry, helping teams to achieve goals by streamilining the processhttps://www.beautymagnetism.com/

  19. allassignmenthelp provides the amazing tool that is free Reference Generator online which repeatedly produces formatted academic locations in best format. The generated references can be unoriginal into a orientation list or appendix, and then collectively appended to the end of an academic assignment. This is the typical way to give praise to bases used in the main body of an task. It takes in pertinent particulars about a source — usually important information like author names, item titles, issue dates, and URLs etc.

  20. Extremely intriguing online journal. A lot of web journals I see nowadays don’t generally give anything that I’m keen on, however I’m most definitely inspired by this one. Recently felt that I would post and let you know. helicopter for sale

  21. Thanks for sharing nice information with us. i like your post and all you share with us is uptodate and quite informative, i would like to bookmark the page so i can come here again to read you, as you have done a wonderful job. Happy Teen Patti

  23. Great article! I found the information shared here to be highly valuable and informative. The content you created caught my attention. Thank you for shedding light on this topic and encouraging discussions. I look forward to reading more engaging content from you in the future. Keep up the excellent work!. Also Read my informative content on Casting Jewelry

  25. World Cup Betting Campaign – WebToon XYZ Join the excitement of the World Cup Betting Campaign by WebToon XYZ! Dive into captivating webtoons while placing your bets on thrilling matches. Experience the perfect blend of sports and storytelling as you immerse yourself in the ultimate fusion of fandom and gaming, all within 50 words.

  26. Its my great pleasure to visit your blog and to enjoy your great posts here. I like it a lot. I can feel that you paid much attention for those articles, as all of them make sense and are very useful.  토토사이트 추천

  27. We offer unlimited home internet plans in most urban areas in Canada. Plans vary by location, and are not available at every address at every location.We are coax cable internet providers toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Quebec City, Hamilton, Kitchener, London, Victoria, Halifax, Oshawa, Windsor, Saskatoon, St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, St. John’s, Kelowna ETC

  28. Hi, I am ellena smith from New York, USA. I am a Cash App technical expert. Users of cash apps frequently inquire about Check Cash App Balance. Nevertheless, they can do so by visiting the app and implementing the steps prescribed for this specific factor. Visit Sites:-

  29. Superior post, keep up with this exceptional work. It’s nice to know that this topic is being also covered on this web site so cheers for taking the time to discuss this! Thanks again and again! 토토사이트

  30. I am very enjoyed for this blog. Its an informative topic. It help me very much to solve some problems. Its opportunity are so fantastic and working style so speedy.
    바카라사이트

  31. WorkLooper provides high-rated game development services in India. The apps are created for various operating systems, including iOS and Android. Your requirements are worked on by our highly skilled team, who also realises your vision. We closely collaborate with you to develop your game from conception to completion and make it a popular, user-friendly game.

  33. I am upbeat to locate your recognized method for composing the post. Presently you make it simple for me to comprehend and execute the idea. Much obliged to you for the post.  메이저놀이터

  35. Today, I was just browsing along and came upon your blog. Just wanted to say good blog and this article helped me a lot, due to which I have found exactly I was looking. slot

  36. I am doing a report on this subject. Your article is full of really useful information. I will make sure to come back to check out your posts for my next report. 사설토토

  41. Can I just say what a aid to find somebody who actually knows what theyre talking about on the internet. You positively know tips on how to deliver a problem to mild and make it important. More folks must learn this and perceive this aspect of the story. I cant believe youre not more common since you undoubtedly have the gift. 홈타이

  49. 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. Big thanks for the useful info. iprim138 slot

Leave a Reply

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