Thanks to the new app, SNCF agents can speak 130 languages.

An agent wearing a pink vest on his back walks through the second hall of the Gare de Lyon this Thursday afternoon in Paris. A somewhat disoriented traveler approaches him. Being of Indian origin, he began to speak English. The SNCF agent takes out his smartphone and opens the TradSNCF app. “Can I help you with anything?” he said in French.

The application instantly translates the offer into the client’s native language. Surprised, he replies in Hindi. “I missed the train to Milan. I don’t know what to do now,” the program translates. The railway operator then invites him to go to the ticket office or the SNCF Connect app to buy a new transport ticket.

The situation is expected to intensify this summer during the Paris Olympics, where 15 million visitors, many of them foreigners, are expected. Therefore, to provide excellent customer service, regardless of the traveler’s nationality, the railway company has developed its own TradSNCF application, capable of real-time translation (oral or written) in almost 130 LANGUAGES.

Also useful for abandoned luggage.

“She embodies the best that our group has to offer in the hospitality sector,” emphasizes Christophe Fanichet, CEO of SNCF Voyageurs. We want to create a good image of France and our group. The app will be part of the Olympic legacy and will live on. » RATP has also developed its own application in 16 languages. She unveiled it last December.

TradSNCF, successfully tested during the Rugby World Cup, cannot be downloaded by individuals. The software will be equipped with the 50,000 SNCF agents in contact with the public during the Olympic Games: controllers, security agents, station agents, etc. “We are also going to add special signage at Olympic stations. And the speaker will make announcements in French and English,” adds Eliane Barbosa, director of regional and Paris radio stations at Gares & Connexions.

Coincidentally, thanks to TradSNCF, the speaker will also be able to place a smartphone next to the microphone to make an announcement in a specific language. “If we find abandoned luggage with a label showing that it belongs to a Korean, Japanese or Brazilian,” explains Christophe Fanichet, “an announcement can be made in the language. »