It was a chorus of mutual praise that marked the celebration of 15 years of high-speed rail traffic by Deutsche Bahn (DB) and SNCF. Launched in 2007, this cooperation has enabled 25 million people to travel between France and Germany..
The rail links between France and Germany now run from Paris to Saarbrücken, FrankfurtMunich and Stuttgart. As well as from Marseille and Lyon to Frankfurt. A large proportion of these lines naturally pass through Strasbourg.
At the 15th anniversary ceremony in Strasbourg, Richard Lutz, Chairman of the Management Board of Deutsche Bahnand Jean-Pierre Farandou, Chairman of SNCFall hailed the results of this successful Franco-German cooperation.
12 daily services on the Franco-German route
" Nos deux companies are engaged for 15 years dans a collaborationration, bringing together our know–to offer the very best in French high-speed rail travel and Germany. In the emergency context climatethe train is LE modee transport par excellence and offere the best alternative pour deplaces professionals and from leisures between our two countries "said the Chairman of SNCF.
" The high-speed train between Germany and France is a example remarkedble de how the liaisons by rail font progress rail transportre international. I believe ferment to the big potential railways in Europe "said the Chairman of DB.
The TGV/ICE offer currently comprises 12 high-speed routesincluding 6 on Paris-Frankfurt via Forbach or Strasbourg ; 5 of Paris-Strasbourg-Stuttgart one of which has been extended to Munich. Last but not least, Marseille has daily links to Frankfurt via Lyon and Strasbourg.
Dor several years now, the intakee conscience environmental reinforces the modal shift to rail. SNCF states thaten 2021, pMore than the moity of passagers de la line Enancfort–Paris now travel by train. And that this figure is even higher on the Paris-Stuttgart route.
TGV/ICE lines are particularly well accepted by business travellers because it favours liaisons of centre–city to centre–city. While the range of services has been particularly expanded with WIFI free on totality of the route. In 1st class, passengers have the right to distribupress release international, catering in its place, the reservationtaxi service or access to the Grands Voyageur loungess et DB Lounge.
Paris-Berlin in sight for 2023?
However, there are a number of reasons for this, the offer has hardly changed over the last two or three years. A second daily TGV/ICE service to Munich, for example, is stalling.. Probably due to the Covid pandemic. And certainly to the countless works that are being carried out on the stretch between Stuttgart and Ulm. This work includes the construction of a new route and a new new transit station in Stuttgart. It will reduce the Paris-Munich journey time to just five hours instead of 5 hours 35 minutes.
On the other hand, the two companies have announced that they are working on a future Paris-Berlin route This project for a new direct link between the hearts of our two capitals will encourage even more people to take the train", said the Chairman of DB.
Volker Wissing, Federal Minister for Transport, emphasised that "crossing Germany and Europe by train while respecting the environment is the essence of our TransEuropExpress 2.0 concept. In view of the major challenges posed by climate change, rail must also play a greater role in intra-European transport. With the new Berlin-Paris high-speed link, another attractive alternative to flying will be put on the rails".
The Paris-Berlin route - via Frankfurt, Kassel and Hanover - is scheduled to start at end 2023…
