Travel chaos as unions strike against reforms

FRANCE was plunged into travel chaos again yesterday as striking railway unions staged a show of strength against the economic reforms of President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Nationwide, fewer than a quarter of trains were running normally — and only 90 out of 700 TGV fast trains — and in Paris several lines of the metro system were at a standstill. Rail links to Paris’s airports were practically non-existent.

Commuters faced the grim choice of fighting their way to work or using up a day of holiday. Those who could joined car-share schemes or cycled to the office.