Traffic Jams in Paris Region Over 250 Miles Long as Railway Workers Strike - Reports

PARIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th September, 2019) Traffic around Paris' suburbs was highly congested on Tuesday due to a railway workers' strike in protest of a looming pension overhaul, which caused regional trains to stop operating, media reported.

The French National Railway Company (SNCF) announced the strikes earlier in the day. Several regional train services have been canceled. Only 40 percent of the SNCF's Intercites network trains are operating, while 60 percent of the regional TER and 50 percent of the Transilien suburban trains are in operation. High-speed TGV trains are mostly all operating.

According to the BFMTV broadcaster, at around 9:00 a.

m. (07:00 GMT) traffic jams in the Ile-de-France region, of which Paris is the capital, were over 475 kilometers (295 miles) long.

On September 13, metro workers of Paris' RATP transit operator held mass protests against French President Emmanuel Macron's proposed universal pension plan.

Macron's new universal pension plan reform seeks to replace the existing do away with the existing state-funded system, which offers railway and metro workers special benefits, such as early retirement. On Tuesday, major French unions called on people in Paris and 150 other cities throughout the country to march in protest of the reforms.