After the UGC cinemas, the SNCF trains… Have the bedbugs decided to be less discreet? In recent days, several photos and videos have been circulating on social networks showing what appear to be bedbugs on train seats. Published Friday evening at 10:29 p.m., the latest has already received more than 4.9 million views on X (formerly Twitter) this Monday. According to the person behind the publication, the video was filmed on the Ouigo which left at 8:57 p.m. from Roissy-CDG 2 airport towards Tourcoing.
A few days earlier, another publication on X had unleashed passions, and collected no less than 7.1 million views. “Could these be bedbugs in your trains, SNCF Voyageurs?”, wrote the person concerned in a text accompanying her photos, on which we can see what could also be a bedbug. According to this traveler, these images were captured on a TGV leaving from the Gare de l’Est, in an “infested” car, on the “seats and carpet”.
Questioned on this subject, Stéphane Bras, the national spokesperson for the CS3D (Union Chamber of Rodent Control, Disinfection and Disinsection) confirms that it is indeed bedbugs. On the video shot on Friday, “there is no doubt”, he specifies, before saying: “and there, given the size, it is visibly an adult bug which has already taken part of its meal “. But the presence of it on a train is not surprising according to the specialist. He assures him that the presence of these pests “is increasingly important in our society” and “affects all sectors, not just tourist accommodation”. “There is no reason why public transport should be spared,” he says.
Faced with these accusations, the SNCF had no choice but to defend itself. Contacted, the public company explained to us this Monday that it had in fact “received some reports of the presence of insects in recent days on certain trains”. Presences of bedbugs which remain “to be confirmed”, we communicate internally, ensuring that we take the subject “very seriously”. However, “these are fortunately very isolated cases because we have experienced almost no cases in recent months,” specifies the SNCF. Before detailing the protocol put in place for each report: “As soon as suspicion is reported, as a precautionary measure the travelers are moved to another car and the suspect car condemned while all inspections and possible treatment are carried out”.
The group still takes care to detail its treatment “both preventative and curative” which it ensures “very regular”: “on the TGVs (INOUI and OUIGO), we have implemented a pest treatment framework (cockroaches, ants, etc.), including bedbugs, which we scrupulously monitor. On the program therefore is a preventive treatment applied every 60 days, with “thorough cleaning”, the “installation of specific traps”, the “installation of anti-pest gels in areas not accessible to customers”, the “spraying of insecticide in all cars” and if necessary, the “installation of diatomaceous earth powder in damp areas”.
In the event of a report, the SNCF explains that it triggers “one-shot” devices throughout the train, renewed “every 15 days for a minimum of 1 month, with checks of the train every week”. And in the event of a greater presence of pests, the train “is taken out of commercial service” in order to undergo “intensive daily treatments until the pests disappear”. A protocol which can last “between 3 and 5 days”, and which can include the dismantling of a certain number of elements inside the cars “if necessary”. The train is then “monitored and checked every week during the month following its return to commercial service”.
And the approach is the same for the Intercités and in night trains, even if “the number of reported cases has been almost zero for several years”, assures the SNCF. The overall infestation rate of the Intercités park is notably “in sharp decline”, thanks to the cumulative effects of “the implementation of preventive treatment for several years”, “the effectiveness of curative treatment in the event of reporting” and “the renovation of cars, particularly at night, initiated in 2020 and completed in the summer of 2023”.
On No bedbugs or cockroaches.” Only “punctual presences of insects”. According to him, despite the risk of travelers introducing these pests into trains, their proliferation would be impossible to the extent that the trains are “treated during major cleaning operations” and “each report of insects” is followed by “a shock treatment by fumigation. In addition, he assures that the SNCF has tightened these operations in recent years, “with preventive treatment every 60 days”.
Also read “There is no unstoppable net”: the secret war of cinemas against bedbugs
However, professionals in the sector are worried, and question the level of information of all the players in the risk management chain. “We have been warning about the situation of resurgence of bedbugs for several years,” explains Stéphane Bras, for whom the risk “was probably not taken at its fair value”. The specialist believes in particular that this problem “must be controlled on a societal scale”, and that it is absolutely necessary “that the risk is known, and that anticipation and treatment measures are more numerous”.
In addition, he recommends setting up “a major educational campaign on a national scale” and invites the general public to adopt “an attitude of precaution and anticipation”, avoiding displaying their belongings in all the cupboards. from a hotel or by systematically inspecting your clothes after going to the cinema, for example. Fortunately, according to him, there is a real “toolbox with multiple means of control”, including standard treatments with an insecticide base but also canine detection, or even treatments with steam, heat or cold. And proof according to him that “communication has not been good enough” on the subject, “when you see an ant, you know it’s an ant. When it’s a bedbug, you call me to check.”