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

 

168,076 thoughts on “Railway Industry in France”

  2. ห้ามพลาด ดูบอลฟรี ดูบอลสด ดูบอลฟรีกันได้ทุกวัน ดูได้ทุกคู่
    ดูบอล

  9. Whether you require dating, connection, with Escort Service In Ghaziabad, our sexy women companions in Noida are best selections in these situations. There is barely anything that our vibrant and attractive can’t provide in a session.

  11. That is why selling advertising campaigns marketing so that you could invaluable explore previous advertisment. Quite simply to jot down stronger set that fit this description. 英文補習推薦

  12. 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. dse英文補習

  13. Anupama Serial who parts with her ambitions and goals in a bid to raise her family, feels dejected when she fails to get any credit for her sacrifices and trials. She then decides to live on her own terms.

  14. Dramacool is a free online streaming website where you can watch English Subbed and Dubbed Korean dramas. You can also watch other Asian dramas on Dramacool

  15. I feel extremely cheerful to have seen your site page and anticipate such a large number of all the more engaging circumstances perusing here. Much appreciated yet again for every one of the points of interest. latest world news in hindi

  16. I’m continually scanning on the web for posts that will support me. An excess of is obviously to find out about this. I trust you made great quality things in Functions too. Continue working, congratulations! 英文補習推薦

  17. You produced some decent points there. I looked on the internet with the issue and discovered most individuals is going as well as with all your internet site.바카라사이트

  19. 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. 存倉

  21. Impressive Thanks for the post! Carry on, don’t stop! Thanks for any other great article.
    you can visit us and get more information on rib flare

  24. pgเว็บตรง lucky tuesday, add luck pgเว็บตรง
    For people born on Tuesday in September Overall life is pretty smooth. have a career progression have financial stability It is a good month for those who were born on Tuesday and have a fortune about investing in slot pg. With people born on Tuesday having a strong mind, it is suitable for investment.

  25. I am always searching online for articles that can help me. There is obviously a lot to know about this. I think you made some good points in Features also. Keep working, great job! dse英文補習

  26. We are truly thankful for your blog entry. You will discover a great deal of methodologies in the wake of going to your post. I was precisely scanning for. A debt of gratitude is in order for such post and please keep it up.  英文補習推薦

  27. Feedback putting grips are Aluminum Grip set on the putter with two screws. Feedback grips are specially designed to feel the strike of the putter while hitting the ball to absorb it and learn from it. professional players of golf use these best putter grips and you can get on and install it within 10 minutes with common tools.

  34. Really impressed! Everything is very open and very clear clarification of issues. It contains truly facts. Your website is very valuable. Thanks for sharing. springbord

  39. You are a very persuasive writer. I can see this in your article. You have a way of writing compelling information that sparks much interest. CORTEXI

  41. Universitas Muhammadiyah Prof. DR. HAMKA (selanjutnya disebut UHAMKA) merupakan salah satu perguruan tinggi swasta milik Persyarikatan Muhammadiyah yang berlokasi di Jakarta. UHAMKA memberikan kemudahan bagi calon mahasiswa baru/pindahan/konversi untuk mendapatkan informasi tentang UHAMKA atau melakukan registrasi online dimana saja dan kapan saja.

  42. Good job on this article! I really like how you presented your facts and how you made it interesting and easy to understand. Thank you. TUPI TEA

  43. This information is magnificent. I understand and respect your clear-cut points. I am impressed with your writing style and how well you express your thoughts. KERASSENTIALS

  44. Attention, tga slot everyone! Immerse yourself in the world of online slots and live football in English. These 30 concise and impactful sentences will provide valuable insights and keep you entertained.

  45. Hey there, gaming tgabet enthusiasts! Join us in exploring online slots and live football in English. These 30 concise and meaningful sentences will give you a clear understanding of the subject.

Leave a Reply

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