While the Brexit high-speed approach, an alliance project between Eurostar and Thalys, called Green Speedwas presented by the management of the two railway companies, supported by the SNCF as majority shareholder of both entities. The new unified company would thus benefit from the pooling of teams and 55 Eurostar and Thalys trains which currently serve 5 European countries (France, Belgium, the UK, the Netherlands and Germany) and carry a total of 18.5 million passengers a year.
The aim is to encourage customers in these countries to choose rail over air, with a target of 30 million passengers by 2030 thanks to the launch of new services and optimised routes via fast connections between the two networks. The introduction of new commercial offers, the use of a single ticketextended access to all lounges of the two carriers for Premium customers not to mention merged digital tools and a joint loyalty programme will also simplify and improve the quality of travel for business passengers.
A merger with an ambitious ecological dimension
With its code name Green SpeedThe stakeholders (SNCF, SNCB and Tapina Rail LLP) are wrapping this alliance project in a broad ecological blanket, emphasising the reduction in CO2 emissions that it will generate and the environmental actions that will be strengthened in terms of waste management, reduction in the use of plastic, eco-driving of high-speed trains, responsible purchasing, etc.
Before the alliance can see the light of day, the SNCF states in a press release that it still has to be submitted to ". approval by boards of directors, information and consultation with employee representatives and authorisation by the European Commission under merger control rules" . However, the rail company points out to Voyages d'Affaires that no timetable has yet been set for the definitive creation of this merger.
