The two partners, who have just renewed their commitment for a further 12 years (see also page 114), believe that this traffic will increase sharply with the expected reduction in journey times between France and Switzerland. Following the opening of the Haut Bugey line in December 2010, which reduced the journey time between Paris and Geneva to 3 hours 05 minutes, the Rhine-Rhône high-speed line, which will be inaugurated in December, will take Basel to 3 hours 03 minutes and Zurich to 4 hours 03 minutes from Paris. The number of daily frequencies will be increased to six from the current five, in parallel with the growth already taking place towards Geneva (nine trains compared with seven previously).
"The move to 3 hours will enable us to take market share from air travel and increase passenger numbers", says Guillaume Pépy, Chairman of the SNCF. The gradual entry into service in 2012 of 19 TGV Duplex trainsets will provide much-needed additional capacity on these routes, while offering greater flexibility and comfort to attract business customers to Geneva and Zurich. This will also involve improving on-board service with the launch of Lyriapremière (on the Paris-Basel/Zurich route from the end of 2011) and the introduction of train departure intervals. Not forgetting WiFi, which will be offered to passengers "one day".
