PARIS – French ********* faced crowded trains Wednesday morning as a ****** sharply reduced capacity, and a ******* by taxi drivers in at least three European countries threatened to spread the misery.

Taxi drivers upset over what they say is unfair competition from private car services are protesting in *******, Germany, France, while French railway workers mounted a ****** to show anger over streamlining proposals under discussion in parliament.

Capacity on French commuter trains and regional and national lines was reduced to one-third of normal, train operator SNCF said.

The taxi drivers say upstart companies such as Uber and Chauffeur Prive are untrained and unregulated. During a ****** earlier this year, drivers for the private services found their vehicles under ******.

The railway workers say they are concerned about plans to merge the agency that operates the network with SNCF, which runs the trains. They also are protesting plans to open the railways to competition.

Source: The Associated Press