What will be the biggest change for SNCF in 20 years' time?
Michel Lebeuf - Things are already partly set in stone. The infrastructure is in place and the 35 trainsets ordered will be delivered from 2015 or 2016. The current Imagine TGV survey will help us to design the future facilities and services to be offered on these new generation TGVs. The big change will be the widespread competition on domestic and international routes. The situation will change, as the public will have a choice between several rail carriers. The challenge for SNCF will be to remain the preferred company by competing on services and prices. It will also have to deal with network saturation on routes such as Paris-Lyon, which are already very busy. The use of duplex TGVs will be one of the solutions to this problem.
Ile-de-France seems to be one of the new priorities?
M. L.- As part of the Greater Paris project, the SNCF wants to create five TGV stations by 2025. They will be located at La Défense, Orly, Saint-Denis, Juvisy-sur-Orge and Villeneuve-Saint-Georges. Many people living in the Ile-de-France region need an hour to get to the Paris stations, which will thus be relieved of congestion. These suburban TGV stations will increase the number of province-province links. From La Défense, there are also plans for a line linking the business district to Brussels and London via Rouen, as Normandy has remained outside the TGV network.
Will we see ever faster TGVs and ever shorter journey times?
M. L.- The SNCF will first benefit from the work underway on three routes: the Rhine-Rhône connection, the Haut-Bugey line and the Perpignan line to Barcelona. Four projects are in the starting blocks: the second section of the TGV Est to Strasbourg, the TGV Bretagne that will take Rennes to within 1h30 of Paris, the Sud-Europe Atlantique line to Bordeaux in 2h05 and the Nîmes and Montpellier bypass. Other projects have also been announced, such as the PACA line and the Lyon-Turin link, although there is a concern that these will lead to an already saturated Mediterranean TGV route. Starting from Paris-Austerlitz station, a doubling of the Paris-Lyon line is therefore envisaged by 2020, which would pass through Orléans and Bourges and provide better services to Clermont and Limoges. It is certain that TGVs will travel at 360 kph on certain routes if this enables them to take market share from air travel. Everything will depend on the competition that SNCF faces. This train will not be the current TGV, but innovative rolling stock that has yet to be invented. Technological advances mean we can go much further in this area.
Will paper notes have disappeared in 20 years' time?
M.L.- The trend is clearly towards the dematerialisation of tickets. The SNCF is working towards this and the changes to come will certainly be greater than those made between 1989 and 2009. We are already seeing tickets appear in the form of a barcode received on a mobile phone. We are also working on services on board our TGVs. The SNCF believes that it is the customer who will equip himself, and our aim is to give him the necessary means to use his equipment to work or relax during his journey.
