After Spain with its low-cost Ouigo offerIs SNCF going to boost the high-speed rail market in Italy? The SNCF Board of Directors has confirmed its plans to set up operations in Italy from 2026. Fifteen of the 115 TGV M trainsets ordered from Alstom will be dedicated to this market, with the aim of operating 9 daily round trips on the the Turin-Milan-Rome-Naples route via Florence and Bologna, and 4 return flights on a Turin-Venice route via Brescia, Verona and Padua. The French operator is already present on the Paris-Milan route, which is currently suspended following landslides in the Maurienne valley.
With this future service, which will be operated by SNCF Italia, the rail group is aiming to 15% market share by 2030. This will boost overall traffic in a country where high-speed rail carries only 56 million passengers a year, compared with 120 million in France. SNCF has not revealed the type of service it intends to use to attack this market, but it is safe to assume that it will once again use Ouigo trains to conquer the market, as this segment is not currently represented in Italy and is the only one capable of rapidly gaining market share.
Thanks to its low prices, Ouigo Spain has already achieved 20% in 3 years, with an occupancy rate close to 90%. The Spanish branch is even expected to break even this year. In Italy, SNCF will benefit from rail tolls that are 30% lower than in France. Enough to market tickets at rock-bottom prices for a spectacular launch in 2026...
A comeback for SNCF in Italy
In 2026, SNCF will be making its grand return to Italy, this time under its own colours. The French railway company was a shareholder in Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori (NTV) for 20%, from which it exited in 2015 thanks to a capital increase. The only competitor to Trenitalia to date, the fifty or so Italo TGVs operated by NTV now carry some 20 million passengers a year. The Italian-Swiss shipping company MSC made a sensational entry in 2023 by acquiring half the capital.
Attacked on its own soil by Italy's TrenitaliaSpanish Renfe and tomorrow by The Train, Proxima or Kevin SpeedWith the opening up to competition, SNCF is finding its salvation in the international arena. Christophe Fanichet, CEO of SNCF Voyageurs, is aiming to carry 50 million passengers in Europe by 2030, compared with 30 million today, mainly with Eurostar (for England, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany), Lyria (to Switzerland), Ouigo Spain and Alleo (Germany).
