Train station ticket offices threatened with closure: Dordogne senator speaks out

Marie-Claude Varaillas contacted the government on Tuesday, July 8, to alert it to the threats weighing on the ticket offices of several stations in Périgord, which could be closed and their agents replaced by machines.

On Tuesday, July 8, during the Senate's oral question session, Dordogne Senator Marie-Claude Varaillas challenged the government on the threats to close ticket offices at several train stations in her department. These decisions would lead to "replacing ticket agents with automated machines," she noted.

Indeed, from 2026, the SNCF plans to close the stations of Condat/Le Lardin, La Coquille, Les Eyzies and Terrasson-Lavilledieu, and to drastically reduce the opening hours of the ticket offices in Bergerac and Saint-Astier.

The senator echoed "the anger of many local elected officials and users," denouncing a pattern of state disengagement, dehumanization of stations, and a decline in public rail service, which, according to her, runs counter to social, territorial, and climate issues. "While we must drastically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, rail must remain the foundation of the transport service ensuring territorial equality," she declared.