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

 

208,474 thoughts on “Railway Industry in France

  1. 먹튀폴리스 Francis Ngannou retained his UFC heavyweight title with a surprising display of superior grappling in a unanimous-decision victory over previously unbeaten Ciryl Gane at UFC 270, Saturday night.

  2. 슈어맨 Deiveson Figueiredo also beat Brandon Moreno by a unanimous decision, concluding a thrilling fight trilogy by reclaiming the flyweight championship belt he lost to Moreno seven months ago.

  3. Very informative post ! There is a lot of information here that can help any business get started with a successful social networking campaign ! Animefenix

  4. Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love learning more on this topic. If possible, as you gain expertise, would you mind updating your blog with extra information? It is extremely helpful for me. แทงบอล

  5. You have come to the right place if you are looking for a LOCAL Company the can take care of all your heating and cooling needs. We deal in most major brands for repairs, service, installation. With over 30 years experience in HVAC installations repairs and service in residential and commercial applications. We have been known to set the bar in the industry for the local HVAC markets. We handle design installation for your heating and cooling needs as well as repairs service and upgrades. We are not the biggest company in the industry and are not striving to be.
    Our goal is to give you, our client, our personal attention and service that satisfy s you with years of service and dedications. That’s how a brand is built and no other way and “This is our creed”!. HVAC REPAIR- HVAC INSTALLATION-HVAC SERVICE
    heating repair goldens bridge

  6. Yes i am totally agreed with this article and i just want say that this article is very nice and very informative article.I will make sure to be reading your blog more. You made a good point but I can’t help but wonder, what about the other side? !!!!!!Thanks แทงบอล

  7. Nothing says Florida like a seafood festival. They are fun, authentic, and the seafood is fresh, often from local waters. Enjoy delectable foods of all types cooked fresh onsite. Arts & Crafts

  8. It’s very interesting. And it’s fun. This is a timeless article. I also write articles related to , and I run a community related to 카지노사이트 . For more information, please feel free to visit !!

  9. Satnavishop.eu – Update gps Update the map of the navigation system. Create a comfortable driving experience by updating the map of the GPS navigation system. With the new maps, your journey will be fast and safe. Choose your brand logo to find the latest map update (navigationssystem) for your vehicle. gps tracking devices

  10. Do you like the kind of articles related to 메이저놀이터 If someone asks, they’ll say they like related articles like yours. I think the same thing. Related articles are you the best.

  11. Bermain slot deposit pulsa
    tentu akan membuat anda mendapatkan banyak uang ketika anda selalu bermain slot deposit pulsa karena tidak semua slot yang anda mainkan akan gacor alias memberikan anda banyak keuntungan maka dari itu mulailah bermain di situs 389Sports sekarang juga dan mainkan slot deposit pulsa agar anda bisa mendapatkan keuntungan yang sangat banyak dan sangat cepat sekarang juga

  12. The IDN slot gambling site is one of the best online gambling sites in Asia and even in Indonesia, for those of you who want to get profits with millions of rupiah results easily, of course, it is absolutely mandatory to register and log in to the IDN slot online site. The Idn slot site is TEXAS88: Online Slot88 Site & Credit Deposit Slot Gambling, as an alternative that provides convenience with opportunities for all players. Having a very complete service, starting from 24-hour non-stop Customer Service, any problems or anything you need can be directly asked. The official Judui online slot site is supported by having an official license in Indonesia.

  13. From all the blogs I’ve read lately, this at one seems to be the most moving – it gave me something to consider about. [Reply] vgames

  14. Judi slot deposit pulsa merupakan salah satu permainan judi slot online melalui agen slot deposit pulsa yang tersedia dan bisa anda kunjungi kapanpun, Seperti kita ketahui bahwa permainan judi slot online menjadi sarana permainan yang sangat berpengaruh dimasyarakat diberbagai negara termasuk di indonesia sendiri. Dengan bermain di situs agen Slot deposit pulsa anda bisa bermain judi slot online dengan deposit termurah sekaligus sangat cepat. Memiliki pelayanan yang sangat lengkap, mulai dari Customer Service 24 jam nonstop, masalah atau apapun yang Anda butuhkan bisa langsung ditanyakan. Situs slot online resmi Judui didukung dengan memiliki lisensi resmi di Indonesia.

  15. We are looking for a lot of data on this item. In the meantime, this is the perfect article I was looking for . Please post a lot about items related to 메이저사이트추천 !!! I am waiting for your article. And when you are having difficulty writing articles, I think you can get a lot of help by visiting my .

  16. I have been searching for a bit for any high-quality articles or blog posts on this kind of place . Researching in Aol I at last stumbled upon this web site. Reading this information So i’m happy to convey that I’ve an extremely good uncanny feeling I came across exactly what I needed. I most definitely will make sure to do not forget this webpage and give it a look on a constant basis. บาคาร่าออนไลน์ขั้นต่ำ20บาท

  17. Way cool! Some extremely valid points! I appreciate you writing this write-up and also the rest of the website is also very good. Really enjoyed this article post.Much thanks again. Really Great. Wow! Thank you! I permanently wanted to write on my site something like that. Can I implement a fragment of your post to my website? Thanks for writing such a good article, I stumbled onto your website and read a few articles. I like your way of writing Thank you for your blog post.Thanks Again. Keep writing. Im obliged for the article. Will read on Usually I don at read post on blogs, however I wish to say that this write-up very pressured me to try and do it! Your writing style has been surprised me. Thanks, quite nice post. 먹튀검증

Leave a Reply

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