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

 

206,061 thoughts on “Railway Industry in France

  1. Thanks for every other excellent post. The place else may just anyone get that kind of info in such an ideal manner of writing? I’ve a presentation subsequent week, and I am at the look for such information. QUIETUM PLUS

  2. If you are looking Chennai Escorts then you are at the best place. We provide 24/7 VIP Escort services to our clients. We have some of the best and beautiful female Escort girls in the city who are ready to give you a memorable experience.

  3. A debt of gratitude is in order for imparting this intriguing web journal to us.My delight to being here on your blog..I wanna come beck here for new post from your website. 補習社

  4. 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.  補習社

  5. I discovered your blog web site on google and test just a few of your early posts. Continue to maintain up the excellent operate. I simply extra up your RSS feed to my MSN News Reader. In search of forward to reading more from you in a while!… 온라인카지노

  6. This is extremely fascinating substance! I have completely delighted in perusing your focuses and have reached the conclusion that you are right about a hefty portion of them. You are extraordinary.  補習社

  7. You have a great sense of writing I must say. Your post has those facts which are not accessible from anywhere else. It’s my humble request to u please keep writing such remarkable articles 補習社

  8. Extremely helpful post. This is my first time i visit here. I discovered such a large number of intriguing stuff in your blog particularly its exchange. Truly its extraordinary article. Keep it up. pizza conneaut lake

  9. Ready to take your TikTok experience to the next level? SSSTikTok is your go-to tool for downloading TikTok videos without those pesky watermarks. This free and convenient service allows you to convert TikTok videos into high-quality MP4 or MP3 formats effortlessly. Say goodbye to complicated installations and hello to hassle-free TikTok downloads. Don’t miss out on your favorite videos – try SSSTikTok today!
    ssstiktok

  10. “Fantastic article! Your expertise on the subject shines through, making it a valuable resource for anyone seeking reliable information. I’ll definitely be sharing this and linking back to it in my own content.”사설토토

  11. “Fantastic article! Your expertise on the subject shines through, making it a valuable resource for anyone seeking reliable information. I’ll definitely be sharing this and linking back to it in my own content.”사설토토

  12. I really enjoyed your blog post. I especially found it to be insightful. I’ve been struggling with similar issue myself, and your advice was really helpful. I also liked the way you write. It was well-written and easy to follow. Thanks for sharing your thoughts! mini truck price

  13. Korean ladies are big enthusiasts of no-make-up makeup. So we set out to attempt to uncover the skin care and make-up secrets that Korean ladies depend on for that wonderful glow, or as they name it, mul-gwan. To find out greater, we reached out to a few beauty bloggers who recognise greater approximately Korean splendor than maximum. Read More:- https://www.health2fitnessblogs.com/

  14. I simply wanted to thank you a lot more for your amazing website you have developed here. It can be full of useful tips for those who are actually interested in this specific subject, primarily this very post. 小學英文補習

  15. Your blog furnished us with important data to work with. Each and each tip of your post are amazing. You’re the best for sharing. Continue blogging, 補習社

  16. Pretty great post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wished to say that
    I have truly enjoyed browsing your blog posts.
    In any case I’ll be subscribing for your feed and I’m hoping
    you write once more soon!

  17. I’m going to read this. I’ll be sure to come back. thanks for sharing. and also This article gives the light in which we can observe the reality. this is very nice one and gives indepth information. thanks for this nice article… grand dunman condo

  18. Pretty insightful post. Never thought that it was this simple after all. I had spent a good deal of my time looking for someone to explain this subject clearly and you METABO FLEX

  19. Thanks for posting this info. I just want to let you know that I just check out your site and I find it very interesting and informative. I can’t wait to read lots of your posts. detection fuite

  20. Great post! I am actually getting ready to across this information, is very helpful my friend. Also great blog here with all of the valuable information you have. Keep up the good work you are doing here. 小學英文補習

Leave a Reply

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