Use case - SNCF
Taking care of SNCF passengers, instantly.
When delays and cancellations hit, 200 passengers are stranded. SNCF chose PROMO.DEV to handle it all - in real time, at scale.
Client
SNCF
Sector
Railways
Team
Customer Experience, Operations
The challenge
200 passengers stranded. Your desk agents are overwhelmed.
A cancelled train at 2am in Lyon. 200 passengers stranded on the platform. Each one needs a hotel, a taxi, a meal voucher. Your desk agents handle every request individually - phone calls, manual bookings, paper vouchers. The queue grows. The anger grows. And by the time the last passenger is taken care of, the next disruption has already started.
Meanwhile, costs spiral out of control. Hotels booked at walk-in rates instead of negotiated fares. Taxis dispatched without budget caps. No visibility on total spend per station, per incident type. By the time the disruption is resolved, SNCF has spent more than necessary and satisfied fewer passengers than possible.
1 in 4 passengers is affected by a disruption each year. Satisfaction drops 30 to 50% after a disruption, and sat at 1.5 out of 5 for SNCF. These are not edge cases - they are a core operational challenge that defines how 5 million daily passengers perceive the brand.
How it works
From disruption to resolution in one SMS.
Disruption detected
The system ingests disruption data from SNCF operations. Affected passengers are identified automatically by station, train number, and incident type.
SMS sent
Each passenger receives a unique link via SMS. No app to download, no account to create, no cash advance required. Works at 2am, in any station.
Self-service booking
The passenger books their hotel via Booking, orders a taxi via Uber, and receives first-need vouchers for meals and essentials. All from one link, in minutes.
Budget controlled
Automated cost caps per station, per incident type. The eligibility engine and fraud engine ensure only valid requests are processed within predefined budget scenarios.
Resolution tracked
Real-time dashboard tracks every incident, every passenger, every booking. Full visibility for operations and customer experience teams across the entire network.
87% of customers say they are likely to avoid a company after just one bad experience. In rail transport, that bad experience happens every day, at every station.
Accenture, 2025
SNCF - 2nd largest transport company in the world
+0%Passenger satisfaction
| Before | With us | |
|---|---|---|
| End-user satisfaction | 1.5/5 | +313% - 4.7/5 |
| Desk assistance requests | Standard volume | -70% |
| OTA services (€15M budget) | Negotiated fare | 26% savings |
The challenge
- Delays and cancellations leave passengers stranded at any hour, in any station, creating immediate pressure on ground staff.
- Manual hotel bookings at walk-in rates and uncapped taxi fares spiral costs with zero visibility per incident.
- No self-service option for passengers. Every request handled individually by overwhelmed desk agents.
Our solution
- Automated SMS with a unique link sent during incidents
- Self-service hotel (Booking), taxi (Uber), first-need vouchers
- Budget scenarios per station, per incident type
- Real-time incident tracking across the entire network
- End-to-end adaptive scenario: rebooking, accommodation, ground transport, legal and commercial compensation, refunds, cashback, virtual gifts