The head of French railway operator SNCF today said that rolling strikes that began last week have cost the company around 100 million euros ( USD 123 million) as staff carried out further stoppages.
Monday marked the fourth day of the strikes, which unions have vowed to continue until at least June 28 unless the government backs down on its reform plan for the debt-laden operator.
SNCF chief Guillaume Pepy told BFM television the action has so far caused losses of around 20 million euros per strike day, though the disruptions often spill into non-strike days.
Rail workers began their strikes on two out of every five working days last week to protest the governments planned overhaul of the operator.
Just one in five high-speed TGV trains were running today, and one in six on other mainline routes, while two-thirds of regional trains had been cancelled.
About 20 per cent of the Eurostar trains in and out of London have also been cancelled.
Pepy noted "quite heavy participation" for the strike on Monday, "though there are more trains than last time", a reference to the stoppages last week.
"From what I can see, France has not been paralysed," Pepy said, "but clients are being heavily penalised."
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