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

 

214,318 thoughts on “Railway Industry in France

  1. Rolex, uno status symbol di intere generazioni, un classico, una storia che ha reso celebre la Maison ginevrina, fondamentalmente basata su due parole magiche, Oyster e Perpetual, la prima risale al lontanissimo 1926 ed è sinonimo di prima cassa realmente impermeabile prodotta dall’industria orologiera,la seconda è molto più recente e identifica il rivoluzionario meccanismo a rotore che ha fondato la dinastia delle moderne cariche automatiche.https://www.orologilusso.eu/

  2. Many thanks to the weblog loaded with numerous information. Halting by your blog site aided me for getting what I used to be on the lookout for.
    You make a lot of wonderful factors here that I study your short article a couple of periods. Your sights are in accordance with my own for the most part. This is excellent content material for your personal visitors.สล็อตเว็บใหญ่

  3. Sitemaps are naturally refreshed catalogs of your site shipped off Google (and other web crawlers) at whatever point your site is refreshed. You’ll likely never at any point need to stress over it, yet it’s incorporated for prevalent execution. rose sex toy

  4. The best article with very interesting information to know, I really like this article that you have made. If you want to find the most popular online game sites that can make money right now, you can visit the 12PLAY Official site right now.

  5. Permainan Situs Judi Slot Online Terbaik yang paling populer hadiah menarik. Bermain slot online juga memberikan kesempatan untuk memenangkan hadiah yang besar. Situs Judi Slot Online Terbaik ini bahkan menyediakan jackpot yang mencapai ratusan juta rupiah.

  6. Hunting games have evolved into a diverse and engaging genre that appeals to both hunting enthusiasts and gamers looking for immersive experiences. These games offer a unique opportunity to connect with nature, develop valuable skills, and raise awareness about wildlife conservation hunting games

  7. spinix gold เว็บไซต์เกมพนันออนไลน์ บริการทำเกมสล็อตที่เสิร์ฟความมันส์ ให้ท่านได้แบบไม่ยั้ง พนันหากำไรกันได้แบบยอดเยี่ยม กับเกมสล็อตรูปแบบใหม่ ที่ใช้ไวมากยิ่งกว่าเดิมและก็รับรองว่าคุณจะเล่นเกมผ่านมือถือ หรือวัสดุอุปกรณ์อิเล็กทรอนิกส์อื่นๆคุณก็จะได้เข้าถึง

    เพื่อเพิ่มช่องทางทำเงินได้ง่ายมากมากยิ่งกว่าเดิม เล่นเกมสล็อตกับพวกเราวันนี้ spinix gold คุณจะได้พบเห็นกับเกมสล็อตที่คัดสรรมาแล้วว่ามีคุณภาพดี ยืนยันจ่ายหนัก แล้วก็แตกดีให้ผลกำไรคุณได้สูงสุดถึงหลักแสน spinix gold แล้วก็หลักล้านครั้งใดก็ตามลงทุนหารายได้หากำไรกับพวกเรานั้น จะเพิ่มความรื่นเริงใจ แล้วก็ช่วยเป็นแหล่งทำเงินออนไลน์ ที่คุณนั้นไม่เบื่อ

    รวมทั้งเล่นเกมได้แบบไม่เหมือนใคร ดีไซน์เกมให้น่าค้นหา และก็เด่น ทุกสัมผัสในการเล่นเกมสล็อตรูปแบบใหม่ๆที่นำสมัย แล้วก็งามมากยิ่งกว่าเดิม ค้ำประกันว่าคุณจะประสบโชคใหญ่ รวมทั้งได้รับผลตอบแทนแบบเต็มกระเป๋าตังค์ ไม่ว่าจะเล่นเกมไหนก็ปังแน่ๆ อัดแน่นไปกับเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ที่ครบวงจรทุกสิ่ง บริการทำสูตรในเกมการประลองและก็ระบบทดสอบเล่นเกมให้ผู้เล่นได้เอาไปใช้บริการได้ฟรีๆกล่าวได้ว่าเป็นการลงทุนพนันกับเกมมาแรงยอดนิยม ที่มีคุณภาพมากมายๆแค่เพียงสมัคร ก็เข้าถึงเพื่อลงทุนได้เลย

  8. This is a fantastic article with incredibly intriguing information that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. If you’re looking for the top online gaming websites where you can potentially earn money, I highly recommend visiting the official GOD55 website today.

  9. Nice post. I would like to thank you for the great work you are doing. I have read your post thoroughly, and the post is amazing. It provides very useful knowledge and information. I really loved the idea. Keep sharing this type of information, as it is very useful to me.
    https://myleatheroutlet.com/

  10. Boa noite turma, provavelmente disparar um torpedo web gratuito está cada vez mais difícil devido a restrição das operadoras de telefone. Há ainda serviços de terceiros (sites) que prometem entregar meu SMS mas quase nunca chegam ao usuário final. Alguns como o Mundo oi e o Oi Torpedo funcionam mas e para as outras operadoras? E os que prometem que enviam e nada chega. Para onde está indo as meus SMS? E para a Tim, Vivo? Alguma Idéia? Ou significa ter de desembolsar?. É só um desabafo, realmente está difícil achar bons sites para enviar SMS de graça. busy moms

  11. Rehousing packers and movers is a company that specializes in providing moving services. They have a team of experienced and professional movers who will take care of everything from packing your belongings to loading and unloading them at your new home.

Leave a Reply

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