railway companies

As in France, Deutsche Bahn is increasingly popular with the public, particularly with the development of the ICE network and improved connectivity. "We have recently integrated the routes of neighbouring networks with which we cooperate, such as SNCF, Thalys, OeBB and Trenitalia, into our booking platform. This has enabled us to...

In just over a year's time, business travellers will finally be able to choose their rail operator in Spain. But for the government and the future operators, the future has already begun! Last December, the Council of Ministers approved a Royal Decree aimed at liberalising rail traffic in Spain. The...

How would you sum up 2018? Rachel Picard - In 2018, our high-speed offer attracted more than three million new customers out of a total of 140 million passengers. All destinations benefited from good momentum, especially those most frequented by our business travellers. Growth is...

Thanks to the combination of the Eurostar and Virgin Trains rail networks, organisers can now book multi-stop journeys from continental Europe to the heart of Great Britain on a single platform. The aim is to make it easier for cities such as Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham, which are currently overshadowed by London in this market, to become more accessible. For...

This is the biggest project to be undertaken in the Baltic region for over 100 years. If there are no delays, around 2026 the first high-speed trains on Rail Baltica will run from Finland to Warsaw via Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. This new high-speed line,...

In 2018, 11 million passengers boarded Eurostar: a record figure, up 7 % on the previous year. Among the positive factors behind this trend were the influx of American passengers (+9%) and the introduction of the London-Amsterdam route, which attracted more than 250,000 passengers...

Italian and British business travellers are not in the same boat: while the former have benefited from an upmarket rail offer following the opening up of the market to competition, the latter are not doing so well. The report published on 29 January by Transport Focus condemns a historically low satisfaction rate....

Last week, the French government announced that it would be issuing a call for tenders in 2020 to allow competition on two railway lines, which will serve as a test: Nantes-Lyon and Nantes-Bordeaux, two minor lines representing a combined passenger traffic of 1.1 to 1.2 million. Rail competition would then begin in 2022,...

Wi-Fi is coming to the Franco-Spanish rail network. On 9 January, Renfe-SNCF made official a new connectivity service, available free of charge on board international trains. "Two connection services authorised by Renfe and SNCF are being used to take advantage of this wi-fi service, through Play Renfe, on the Lyon-Barcelona and Marseille-Barcelona-Madrid routes,...

From 11 June, Eurostar will be operating a third daily service from London to Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Ticket sales began on 4 January. "Our new route to the Netherlands has met with strong demand from our customers," says Mike Cooper, Eurostar's Managing Director. "A third daily train...

Those involved in business travel, and in particular the major business travel agencies, are not usually very forthcoming about how they cater for people with reduced mobility. And yet. 10 % of the French population are said to be disabled, including many professionals. In France, companies with more than 20 employees...

What does the new MICE offer unveiled by Eurostar look like? Guillemette Jacob - We are offering companies the opportunity to privatise an entire car, or even several cars and an entire Eurostar train. This new service will be available in our three service classes: Standard, Standard Premier and Business Premier. For these last two classes,...

This first commercial line will link Tangier to Casablanca in 2 hours 10 minutes, compared with 5 hours at present, and Tangier to the capital Rabat in 1 hour 20 minutes, compared with 3 hours 45 minutes. The Office National des Chemins de Fer (ONCF) has been carrying out technical tests on the trains for several months - with a speed record of 357 km/h recorded between Tangiers and Kenitra - on this high-speed line...

Around thirty railway workers from the CGT and Sud unions made a noisy appearance on the platforms of Paris-Lyon station on Thursday, prior to the announcement of the roll-out of the InOui TGVs by Rachel Picard, the CEO of Voyages SNCF. Already present on Paris-Bordeaux and Paris-Toulouse since summer 2017, this premium offer from the...

The news had already leaked a few days earlier, with SNCF boss Guillaume Pépy saying on CNews: "I don't have the right to say it, so I'm going to say it: [Ouigo] will be arriving at Gare de Lyon from the end of the year". On 9 December to be exact, according to...

It's not always easy for business travellers or travel managers to plan a multi-transport trip in the Mekong sub-region, which officially includes Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand and Vietnam. Now they have a solution at their fingertips with Baolau, the first site to integrate all...

Having passed the 7 million passengers carried mark in 2017 and enjoyed a good first half of 2018, Thalys is actively preparing its future. On 19 June, Agnès Ogier, the CEO of the European rail company, unveiled a number of projects for 2018-2022 at the Thalys offices in Paris....

The Paris-London 7-hour journey. At a time when Paris-Nord station is still calm and serene, the queue in the Eurostar terminal on the 1st floor of the illustrious building designed by the architect Hittorff in 1861 is already buzzing with activity. I join the queue of identity checks carried out by the PAF, which seems to be more...

10 December 2017. On that day, TGV Lyria business passengers were curious to discover the newly launched Business 1ère class between Paris and Geneva. While the first-class seats have not changed for the time being - the rolling stock is not due to be renewed until 2020 - the Franco-Swiss company has begun to upgrade the...

With another day of strikes disrupting SNCF operations on 19 April, 1 TGV in 3 should be running today. International business travellers should be moderately affected, as 3 out of 4 trains are expected to run on these routes to and from neighbouring countries. Traffic is almost normal on...