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

 

177,908 thoughts on “Railway Industry in France

  1. 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. visit site

  2. Gems form the internet… […]very few websites that happen to be detailed below, from our point of view are undoubtedly well worth checking out[…]…… visit site

  3. MEGA GAME เต็มไปด้วยการดําเนินของฟังก์ชันที่ทันสมัย และฟังค์ชั่นที่หลากหลาย เเละยังเป็นเเหล่งรวมคาสิโนออนไลน์ที่ได้รับการการนิยมที่สุดในตอนนี้ และได้รับการการันตีจากนักพนันออนไลน์ทั่วทุกมุมโลกว่า เป็นเว็บที่ดีที่สุด ระบบมีความเสถียรที่สุด MEGA GAME ระบบฝากถอนมีความเเม่นยำที่สุด และเรายังรวมเกมสล็อต

  4. Thanks for sharing such beautiful information with us. We hope you will share some more information about it. We really enjoy your blog & content.Click Here

  5. Evimizde ya da işyerimizde kullandığımız mutfak ürünleri hayatımızı kolaylaştırırken işlerimizi daha hızlı tamamlamaya odaklanmıştır. Bunun için özellikle endüstriyel mutfaklar denildiğinde bazı markaları ve bu markaların teknik servislerini ön planda görüyoruz. Endüstriyel mutfak servisi önemli bir konudur. Çünkü ticari işletmenizde kullandığınız mutfağınızın hatasız çalışması işinizin devamı ve müşteri memnuniyetinin sağlanabilmesi için gereklidir. Eğer bir restoran işletiyorsanız ya da etle ilgili bir sektördeyseniz o zaman dondurucunuzdan tutunda ocağınıza varıncaya kadar hepsinin faal bir şekilde çalışması gerekir. Öztiryakliler servisi olarak biz mutfakta kullandığınız ürünlerinizle ilgili size gerekli desteği vermeye hazırız.

    Kaynak : https://www.semayendustriyel.com/

  6. Youre so cool! I dont suppose Ive read anything such as this just before. So nice to discover somebody with some original ideas on this subject. realy thanks for starting this up. this fabulous website is a thing that is needed on the net, someone after a little originality. beneficial problem for bringing a new challenge on the internet! storage units for rent

  7. Many thanks for creating the effort to talk about this, I feel strongly about this and love learning a great deal more on this matter. If feasible, as you gain expertise, would you mind updating your weblog with a great deal more details? It’s extremely helpful for me. ليلة الدخلة

  8. 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.

  9. When I originally commented I clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox now each time a comment is added I get four emails concentrating on the same comment. Can there be in any manner it is possible to remove me from that service? Thanks! الحمل

  10. 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. sexy

  11. Hello, you used to write great, but the last several posts have been kinda boring… I miss your great writings. Past several posts are just a little bit out of track! come on! Accountant Orlando

  12. Immediately that awesome web page really should irrefutably grown into known in the many webpage the majority of people, a result of the diligent articles or blog posts or maybe opinions or possibly responses. pg slot

  13. I became honored to obtain a call coming from a friend as soon as he discovered the important guidelines shared on the site. Looking at your blog post is a real great experience. Thank you for considering readers much like me, and I desire for you the best of achievements as being a professional in this area. Accounting firm Orlando

  14. MEGA GAME พิเศษสูตร ปั่นสล็อต 100 ลุ้นแสน กับ สล็อตออโต้ MEGA GAME สมัครวันนี้รับสิทธิ์พิเศษฟรีมากมาย บริการ ฝาก ถอน ด้วยระบบอัตโนมัติ เล่นได้ทั้งบนคอมพิวเตอร์ แท็บเล็ต และมือถือ ทุกระบบ ไม่ว่าจะเป็น iOS หรือ Android รองรับการใช้งานได้กับ สมาร์ทโฟน ทุกรุ่นแบบไม่มี สะดุด กับระบบการบริการสุดล้ำสมัย สล็อต ปั่น แตกง่าย

  15. I just couldn’t leave your website before telling you that I truly enjoyed the top quality info you present to your visitors? Will be back again frequently to check up on new posts. Claremore Eye Doctor

  16. Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon. Big thanks for the useful info. sexy baccarat

Leave a Reply

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