Carcassonne: the change of schedule of a TER for Toulouse displeases travelers
The modification of the regional express transport (TER) schedule between Carcassonne and Toulouse early in the morning provokes the wrath of users. They denounce a binding change, adopted without consultation and communication.
Carcassonnais who take the train early in the morning to go to work in Toulouse have to face new adventures. Between the SNCF controllers’ strike and the freight train accident last November at Carcassonne station, bringing traffic to a virtual standstill for less than a month, this time it’s the timetables for TER which crystallizes the tensions. And more particularly the 7:30 a.m. train, which served the Ville Rose in an hour flat. Since mid-December, this TER departs from Carcassonne at 7:09 a.m., 21 minutes earlier, and arrives at 8:21 a.m. in Toulouse. A journey of 1h12 against an hour before which is far from delighting users.
To find his line of yesteryear, Pierre, who travels every morning from Carcassonne to Toulouse for work, has launched an online petition. On this one, which currently totals just under 300 signatures, messages of misunderstanding abound. “I’ve been using the line for more than 10 years and the new morning schedules which are not totally incompatible with work schedules. Why did you move the departure time from Carcassonne from 7:30 a.m. to almost 8 a.m.? Please return to the old hours“, writes Bernard. “Disagree with the new hours“, testifies Celine.
No TER pendant 45 minutes… Then two in 10 minutes
Pierre has also written to around forty elected officials to denounce a situation that he considers grotesque. “Everyone uses the 7.30 a.m. TER. And then there, we have no train for 46min at rush hour between 7:09 a.m. and 7:55 a.m., then two trains in five minutes at 7:55 a.m. and 8:01 a.m. assures the Carcassonne. “Before, there was even an intercity at 7:36 a.m. which took 45 minutes. We don’t have anything in less than an hour now,” he adds.
In addition to being particularly irritated, Pierre does not understand “what need meets”, this deletion of TER. He also does not understand the lack of communication around this change of schedule. “We are presented with a fait accompli”, he laments. LiO Train SNCF Occitanie had briefly communicated on its social networks on December 9th.
Contacted to find out the reasons for this development, SNCF Réseau Occitanie has not yet provided an answer.