How can we provide clear, instant and local information to millions of passengers who use regional trains every day?
This is the challenge taken up by SNCF TER, which provides daily transport services in dozens of French regions.
Between timetables, season tickets, disruptions, requests for assistance and lost property, users have many questions, which are often urgent.
Until now, these requests have been flooding call centres and traditional contact channels, tying up teams with simple enquiries.
To improve responsiveness and modernise passenger relations, local SNCF entities have chosen Botnation to create a regionalised virtual assistant capable of responding 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Suitable for regional brands such as Nomad Train in Normandy and Rémi in Centre Val-de-Loire, the chatbot guides users step by step through fares, season tickets, delays, lost property, accessibility and combined services.
With over 23 million messages exchanged and 1.8 million engaged users, these regional digital assistants demonstrate the tangible impact of conversational AI in public service.
Discover the Botnation chatbot, now offering clearer passenger information and a closer, simpler and more modern TER experience.
Un service public régional en pleine transformation digitale
SNCF TER (Transports Express Régionaux) provides thousands of journeys every day throughout France.
Présente dans toutes les régions, elle relie villes, banlieues et zones périurbaines, avec des enjeux majeurs : ponctualité, interconnexion, accessibilité et satisfaction des voyageurs.
Present in all regions, it connects cities, suburbs and peri-urban areas, with major challenges: punctuality, interconnection, accessibility and passenger satisfaction.
As a result, call centres are overwhelmed and local teams are inundated with repetitive questions that are often simple to deal with.
To improve service responsiveness and modernise passenger relations, SNCF has decided to introduce an intelligent digital assistant, accessible to all, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
A unique solution, deployed with Botnation, to centralise key information for each TER region in an intuitive and fully automated chatbot.
The challenge: making passenger information more fluid and accessible
The TER network is extensive and diverse.
Chaque région dispose de ses propres offres tarifaires, de ses abonnements, de ses lignes et de ses particularités locales.
For a user, finding the right information on the website could be a real headache.
Today’s travellers want immediate answers, without having to fill out forms or navigate overly complex help pages.
For their part, SNCF support teams had to manage an increasing volume of repetitive requests.
En période de travaux ou de grèves, ces sollicitations explosaient, mobilisant inutilement les centres d’appels et les agents d’accueil.
The need was therefore clear: a unified digital assistant capable of responding instantly while adapting to each region.
The solution: a regionalised chatbot designed with Botnation
In collaboration with local SNCF teams, Botnation has developed a series of regional chatbots integrated directly into TER websites.
The first, named Nomad Train for Normandy, quickly inspired other regions: Hauts-de-France, Occitanie, Centre-Val de Loire and Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
These virtual assistants function as genuine digital service desks: they assist travellers with their daily tasks and provide them with clear, reliable and personalised answers in a matter of seconds.
Large-scale digital transformation
The adoption of Botnation regional chatbots marks a key milestone in the digitalisation of public rail services.
By placing conversation at the heart of its relationship with passengers, SNCF TER simplifies procedures while promoting regional proximity.
With 23 million messages exchanged and five regions connected, the TER x Botnation project is now one of the largest deployments of public chatbots in France.
It proves that a well-designed conversational assistant can transform a public service’s customer relations, while boosting user satisfaction and trust.
Thanks to Botnation, SNCF TER is reinventing the passenger experience: smoother, faster and, above all, more personalised.
