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

 

165,110 thoughts on “Railway Industry in France”

  2. I am really enjoying reading your well written articles. It looks like you spend a lot of effort and time on your blog. I have bookmarked it and I am looking forward to reading new articles. Keep up the good work. bestoftechguide.com/

  3. I have express a few of the articles on your website now, and I really like your style of blogging. I added it to my favorite’s blog site list and will be checking back soon… protechbox

  4. The next time I read a blog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as much as this one. I mean, I know it was my choice to read, but I actually thought you have something interesting to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about something that you could fix if you werent too busy looking for attention. Health

  5. i read a lot of stuff and i found that the way of writing to clearifing that exactly want to say was very good so i am impressed and ilike to come again in future.. 먹튀검증

  7. positive website online, where did u arrive taking region at the back of the advice regarding this posting? i’m appreciative i discovered it even though, knocked out the weather be checking abet soon to find out what courting posts you tote happening. sattamatka

  9. Online Casino Roulette. Roulette is all alone of the amazing famous ‘wheel’ casino online games. It is zest superb to lose true a round and there are various types of online casino roulette… Online Casino Roulette. Online Slot Machines. Slots are the easiest casino … owner of google by Nadir

  13. พบกับ เกมส์สล็อต JOKER123 และสล็อตออนไลน์ ได้ที่ joker123th.com ตัวแทนอย่างเป็นทางการในประเทศไทย ดาวน์โหลดเกมส์ฟรี เกม JOKER Download joker

  14. I am happy to find this post very useful for me, as it contains lot of information. I always prefer to read the quality content and this thing I found in you post. Thanks for sharing. 123movie

  15. An example of this is Atypical Mole Syndrome. This syndrome brings about a tendency inside the physique to kind an abnormal amount of moles on our skin. This is some thing that we could have obtained from our parents or our grandparents and we’ve no manage over regardless of whether we obtain it or not. Relaxing Music

  16. We Spa69 offer different Massage Service into the Essence of these Customers. Wish the method that you’ll love to devote enough period we are able to converse and come back to your finish.

    For more information visit Body To Body Spa Near Me

  17. The McAfee Error 5051 is a runtime error that can appear during any software installation or windows startup of shut down. If McAfee error 5051 has occurred, then the users are recommended to use the McAfee support number to get in touch with the experts for solving this problem instantly.

    https://www.myquery.co.uk/mcafee-error-5051/

  22. Every brand sets out to attract attention, to be remembered, to be known, to be the first choice of the customer. Finding a good brand name is one of the most important steps of branding. The right brand name allows you to start the game 1-0 ahead of your opponents. “The most important marketing decision you can make is what to name a product,” said Jack Trout, the famous marketing genius.

    Whether it is a large institution, a small store, a fast-moving consumer product, an intermediate product, a factory, a service company, a building, a project, a movie, a book, a competition, a web design space, Naming a business entity is not easy, nor should it be. Because good names are scrambled. If you want to find a name that works, you have to think hard and do a lot of research.

    REFERENCE:
    https://vallettasoft.com/branding-malta/

  23. 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. joker395

  24. I definitely enjoying every little bit of it. It is a great website and nice share. I want to thank you. Good job! You guys do a great blog, and have some great contents. Keep up the good work. JoeysVision

  25. This is exactly evenly a good material that i extremely extremely enjoyed reading viewing. It’s not regularly which i maintain opportunity to run a difficulty. 188Bet

  26. Hello I am so delighted I located your blog, I really located you by mistake, while I was watching on google for something else, Anyways I am here now and could just like to say thank for a tremendous post and a all round entertaining website. Please do keep up the great work. fusible link 165f

  34. This is my first visit to your web journal! We are a group of volunteers and new activities in the same specialty. Website gave us helpful data to work. 88카

  37. Thank you because you have been willing to share information with us. we will always appreciate all you have done here because I know you are very concerned with our. 88카

  40. We are a Body to body massage In Bangalore,
    so if you’re looking for the best massages in your area, we want to be your go-to spot.
    We offer an array of services that will leave you feeling refreshed and rejuvenated! Our professional staff is highly trained and ready to help make your day great.
    Located just outside of the city, our tranquil atmosphere is perfect for getting away from it all. Come experience what makes us different today!

  48. I admire this article for the well-researched content and excellent wording. I got so involved in this material that I couldn’t stop reading. I am impressed with your work and skill. Thank you so much. umrah service

Leave a Reply

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