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

 

214,109 thoughts on “Railway Industry in France”

  7. Aloha shirts are famous for their eye-catching and diverse patterns. These designs often incorporate Hawaiian flowers like hibiscus, plumeria, and bird-of-paradise, as well as images of wildlife and scenic landscapes. men’s aloha shirts

  8. سمارت هوم – شركة سمارت هوم – سمارت هوم سيستم – نظام سمارت هوم – سمارت لايف السعودية – شركة سمارت لايف – سمارت لايف السعودية – سمارت هوم السعودية – متجر سمارت هوم – أجهزة سمارت هوم
     سمارت هوم

    سمارت هوم سيستم هي شركة رائدة في مجال تكنولوجيا المنازل الذكية، وهي تابعة لشركة سمارت لايف تك. تتخصص الشركة في تطوير وتقديم حلول مبتكرة لجعل منازلكم أكثر ذكاءً وراحة. تمتلك شركة سمارت هوم خبرة واسعة في مجال التحكم عن بعد في الإضاءة والتدفئة وتكييف الهواء وأجهزة الأمان وأنظمة الترفيه المنزلي بالوكالة الحصرية لشركة مورقن moorgen الالمانية.

    تهدف الشركة إلى تقديم منتجات ومتجر سمارت هوم moorgen الذكية وخدمات عالية الجودة تستند إلى أحدث التقنيات، وتساعدكم في الاستفادة القصوى من منازلكم الذكية. سواء كنتم تبحثون عن إعدادات تحكم بسيطة أو نظام معقد للمنزل الذكي، ستجدون في شركة سمارت لايف تك الحلول المناسبة.

  9. Heya i’m for the first time here. I found this board and I find It really useful & it helped me out a lot. I hope to give something back and aid others like you helped me.토토사이트

  11. There are many fascinating cut-off dates in this page however I don’t determine if I see the ones people middle to coronary coronary heart. There is in fact a few validity however I maximum without a doubt will take keep opinion till I discover it similarly. Good article , thank you therefore we want more! Put into FeedBurner as nicely ketamine

  21. Woomhost is known for its user-friendly interface and a wide range of hosting plans to suit various needs. With Woom Host, users can easily register domain names, set up email accounts, and host their websites.

  25. You fancy yourself a quality new smartphone but unfortunately your money is not enough, well no worries because these days you can get a smartphone less than £300 and still expect brilliant battery life, impressive gaming performance, dependable camera tech and some very handy features that you won’t find in mega pricey flagships for example a headphone jack and actual memory card support.
    This is why we have put together a list of the best budget smartphone under 300 euros for you to choose from.
    best phone under 300 euro

  29. Good This is very interesting, You are a very skilled blogger. I have joined your rss feed and look forward to seeking more of your great post. Also, I have shared your site in my social networks! cleaning

  30. Pretty section of content. I just stumbled upon your weblog and in accession capital to assert that I get actually enjoyed account your blog posts. Any way I will be subscribing to your augment and even I achievement you access consistently quickly. cleaning

  31. I am usually to blogging we really appreciate your website content continuously. The article has truly peaks my interest. I will bookmark your web blog and keep checking for new info. cleaning

  34. Unstable diffusion often leads to turbulent mixing, which is essential in various natural and industrial processes. For instance, in environmental science, turbulent mixing in the atmosphere plays a crucial role in dispersing pollutants and facilitating chemical reactions. In chemical engineering, it’s essential for achieving uniform mixing of reactants in chemical reactors. What is Unstable Diffusion?

  35. Turbulent flow is a prime example of unstable diffusion. In fluid dynamics, when the velocity of a fluid exceeds a critical value (known as the Reynolds number), the flow transitions from laminar (smooth and predictable) to turbulent (chaotic and irregular). Turbulent flow is characterized by the formation of vortices, eddies, and swirls, making it challenging to predict the movement of particles or heat within the fluid. What is Unstable Diffusion?

Leave a Reply

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