Paris - A 36-hour strike called by three trade unions is expected to cut French railway traffic by between one-third and one- half beginning late Monday, the French rail network SNCF said. The job action was called to protest a planned restructuring of the SNCF's freight sector, which unions fear will lead to massive redundancies.
About two of three scheduled high-speed TGV trains are expected to run during the strike, while regional rail traffic is foreseen to be cut by about half, the SNCF said.
Eurostar traffic between Paris and London and the Thalys, connecting the French capital with Brussels, are not expected to be affect by the strike, the first national railway strike in a year.
