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SNCF INTRODUCES TIGHTER INSPECTIONS TO CUT DOWN ON VIOLENCE FROM PASSENGERS WITHOUT TICKETS TICKET checks are being tightened on TGV trains to improve security with inspectors greeting
passengers at each door of trains on the Paris-Rennes route. SNCF customer relations director Patricia Lacoste said the plan had three aims: to improve the welcome service, to combat fraud
and to reduce violence on trains as 60% of attacks on staff were by travellers without tickets. Stationing ticket inspectors at the train doors would stop people without tickets getting on
the trains. The move is being tested on the Paris-Rennes route and will be extended to the four other lines later this year. Thalys trains already use door checks to stop fraud and checks
are done at the platform entrance for iDTGV services and for TGVs at Marseille St Charles. Last October an inspector was stabbed and seriously injured on a Lyon-Strasbourg Corail train after
he asked a man for his ticket. The incident led to a nationwide walk-out of rail staff, bringing services across the country to a halt for several hours. Ms Lacoste said SNCF would be
taking on 100 extra staff who would also be involved at levels of the company - with the aim being for the move to be self-financing by cutting down on fraud and making sure passengers had
valid tickets. Photo: Sebastian Terfloth