On Wednesday the transport and energy workers went on strike for the second time in a month. The reason is that they are protesting against the reform of President Sarkozy over pensions.

The train services were interrupted and the energy production capacity was reduced. However, it appears that the strike could come to an end as the government and the unions might come to a compromise, Reuters reports.

David Martinon, presidential spokesman, said: “The president thinks there is a chance for the spirit of responsibility to find a way out of the conflict.”

The public supports Sarkozy’s reform that will bring generous pension provisions for almost 500,000 public sector workers at the same level with the other workers. This reform comes ahead a general pension reform next year.

Paris commuters turned today to mopeds, bikes or cars to try to get to work without the usual metro or bus.

Only 90 of 700 trains worked on Wednesday. According to the SNCF rail operator, 61.5 percent of the workers showed up today, down from the 73.5 percent recorded on October 18.

The Eurostar between Paris and London, witch now switched the stations to St. Pancras, was running as normal.

The highway around the city was jammed even before dawn. Others have chosen to walk to get to work.

The energy workers cut from the production capacity at EDF nuclear plants about 12 percent.

President Sarkozy said that he will not abandon his plan to put to an end the “special regimes” that allowed workers with hard jobs to retire after 37.5 years of labor compared with the 40 years for others.

He accepted a plan for negotiations presented on Tuesday by Bernard Thibault, the head of the CGT union.

Claude Gueant, a senior Sarkozy aide said: “Bernard Thibault has made it possible to untangle this crisis as of the first day of the conflict.”

Union leaders were also ready for talks. They’ve met on Wednesday with Labour Minister Xavier Bertrand.