Commuters walk at Gare du Nord train station in Paris May 22, 2008 during the strike by French SNCF railway workers. French President Nicolas Sarkozy will come under renewed pressure as trade unions plan a nationwide strike against his pension reform plans. [Agencies]

Nationwide, half of all trains ran normally according to the state rail company SNCF, with high-speed Eurostar and Thalys services from Paris to London and Brussels operating as usual.

The Paris metro ran almost normally, but many suburban train lines ran at half-capacity, including the line linking the capital to the Charles de Gaulle international airport.

Air traffic was running normally from Paris Charles de Gaulle, with minor trouble reported at Paris Orly airport and provincial hubs including Marseille and Lyon in the southeast.

Thursday's strike comes hard on the heels of a two-week protest movement by fishermen who have blockaded oil depots, clashed with police and disrupted cross-Channel traffic in a two-week protest over rising fuel prices.

Fishermen's leaders called Wednesday for an end to the protests after the government promised to release this year 110 million euros (173 million dollars) from a promisaed 310 million euro package.

But many maintained their protests including at France's largest port of Marseille, where they had resumed a blockade of oil depots.

Cross-Channel ferry services from Calais to Dover -- hit by the fishermen's strike on Wednesday -- remained severely disrupted by a separate strike against port privatization plans, officials said.

Regional traffic authorities said there was a 17 kilometer (10.5 mile) jam of lorries on the main highway into Calais caused by the strike.

(Chinadaily.com.cn via agencies May 23, 2008)