After the success of Ouigo in SpainSNCF plans to roll out its low-cost concept in Italy by 2026according to information presented by Le Parisien on 15 March. Called Allegro, this project - which is due to be made official by SNCF shortly - involves the operation of high-speed trains on the Turin-Milan-Rome-Naples and Turin-Venice routes, with 9 and 4 return trips respectively. The service would be gradually ramped up between June 2026 and spring 2028.
Faced with a shortage of trains to support its many expansion projects in France and abroad, SNCF will have to wait until it receives the fifteen or so trainsets it has ordered from Alstom to run in Europe, from its mega-order of 115 TGV-Ms. The first of these are expected to be on the national network by the end of 2024. But the technical capabilities of this new TGV of the future" This will enable it to run at high speed in Italy. This is not the case with the current TGV trains to Milan. Intended to appeal to a leisure clientele, these Ouigo trains will have a very high capacity, higher than the 740 passengers provided for in the classic version intended for the InOui TGVs on the French network.
SNCF will not be able to a step into unknown territory by crossing the Rubicon. For more than a year, the carrier has been working with Trenitalia, its Italian equivalent, on the Paris-Lyon-Milan route. What's more, the French company has already been present in Italy via the 20 % that it owned in the Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori-NTV company. To everyone's surprise, in 2015 SNCF sold its shares in this competitor of Trenitalia, known for its Italo high-speed trains serving 13 cities in Italy. Trenitalia, NTV and SNCF will share the transalpine market in the future.
Ouigo heads for the "centre of the world
But the development of SNCF Voyageurs' low-cost offer also, and above all, involves France. Since 27 March, Ouigo has been offering travellers looking for low fares a daily return flight between Paris and Perpignana five-hour journey. Departing from Gare de Lyon at 8.23am and at 3.04pm in the Perpignan-Paris direction, this line serves Valence TGV, Nîmes Pont du Gard, Montpellier Sud de France as well as Sète, Agde, Béziers and Narbonne, four new towns served by Ouigo. " Perpignan was the destination our customers had been waiting forsaid Jérôme Laffon, Director of Ouigo. We're delighted to be able to offer these new services at Ouigo prices, which is in line with our ambition that low-cost rail services should benefit as many people as possible. "
