Threats to close the Thello Marseille-Nice-Milan railway line

FRANCE / ITALY. According to the railway workers' union CFDT, the company Thello plans to close its Eurocity line between Marseille-Nice and Milan in 2021.

The 100% subsidiary of the public Italian railways company Trenitalia has been offering three trains a day on this Franco-Italian route since 2014. It was competing with the SNCF in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, which has already launched new calls for tender in early 2020 for alternatives to the SNCF on the Marseille-Toulon-Nice and "Azur" lines around Nice.

Following the deconfinement, Thello no longer organises departures from Marseille and only runs two Nice-Milan trains a day. The health crisis has also led the railway company to abolish the Paris-Venice night train that has been operating since 2011.

At the end of 2017, Thello obtained a historic agreement with the SNCF and the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, allowing SNCF professional subscribers to use this line for just €5 per month and thus relieve the saturated TER network at peak times.

In a press release published on 30 September 2020, the CFDT railway workers' union mentioned the possibility of a social plan affecting 38 jobs on the Nice site (train drivers, train drivers, shunters, management, etc.). It is asking for a job guarantee for all the company's employees using the APLD (Long-term partial activity), full salary maintenance and reinforced training schemes. "Rather than abolishing the rail links between France and Italy, the management of Thello could benefit from a significant assumption of responsibility for salaries by the State, subject to commitments to maintain jobs", underlines the trade union statement.