Media: French authorities denied the message about the reduction of railway transportation

MOSCOW, September 5 – PRIME. The French authorities have urged the national railway company SNCF to save electricity amid its shortage, but this will not mean a reduction in the number of traffic, the Figaro newspaper reported on Monday.

“The government has asked SNCF to conserve electricity rather than prepare for fewer trains to run this winter due to electricity shortages, as the Parisien newspaper claimed on Sunday,” the French transport ministry said in a statement.

As Parisien reported the day before, SNCF, at the request of the authorities, is preparing a plan to reduce the number of passenger rail transport this winter in case of a significant shortage of electricity.

At the end of July, French Transport Minister Clement Bon, together with the country’s Minister of Energy Transformation, Agnès Pannier-Runachet, demanded that transport companies prepare an energy saving plan. Companies are required to submit the document on Tuesday.

This summer, the French government launched an “energy sobriety” program with the goal of reducing electricity consumption by 10% to avoid shortages in the coming winter.

Earlier, French media reported that the wholesale price of electricity in France will reach a record high in 2023, exceeding the mark of 1,000 euros per megawatt-hour, which is 1,000% more than a year earlier.

At the end of July, French Cabinet spokesman Olivier Veran said that France was in an “unprecedentedly difficult” situation in terms of electricity production.

At the moment, 32 out of 56 nuclear reactors in the country have been shut down for various reasons. France is considering restarting a coal-fired power plant in the country’s southeast in the event of severe power shortages this winter.