railway companies

Following the success of Ouigo in Spain, SNCF plans to roll out its low-cost concept in Italy by 2026, according to information presented by Le Parisien on 15 March. Called Allegro, this project - which is due to be made official by SNCF shortly - involves operating high-speed trains on the Turin-Milan-Rome-Naples routes...

The launch of the SNCF Connect app in January 2022 was complicated. How would you assess it one year on? Arnaud Coiffard - The year was divided into three phases. The first, for three months, was to iron out any bugs that may have existed so that the platform would be technically stable. The second was...

On Friday, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne made official what she described as the "new deal for rail". And she confirmed the figure that had already been circulating for a few hours - and even for several months, in Jean-Pierre Farandou's speech - i.e. 100 billion euros. "We are choosing to give priority to investing in...

The players in the tourism industry are each turning the page on the pandemic at the turn of 2023. Hotel groups have seen revenue per room exceed 2019 levels. Air France-KLM reported fourth-quarter revenues of €7.1bn, "a record level in the group's history...

10 new or improved high-speed or non-high-speed rail links. This is the number that the European Commission has decided to support in order to offer more affordable and environmentally-friendly mobility within the European Union. Promoting sustainable mobility The ten pilot projects were presented by the relevant authorities in response to...

The Le Train project is gathering pace. For its high-speed trains, the private operator has chosen Spain's Talgo, from whom it has ordered 10 Avril trainsets worth some 300 million euros. The invitation to tender was issued at the beginning of 2022 to a number of different manufacturers, following difficulties in acquiring...

On Tuesday at Brussels-Midi station, Eurostar Group unveiled the timetable and future plans for the ongoing merger of the Eurostar and Thalys companies. On the strength of its international reputation, Eurostar has been chosen to carry the commercial brand of the new rail group, with Thalys set to disappear...

The Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) made the news official on 17 January. British railways will once again be disrupted by strike action. The strike is scheduled for 1 and 3 February. It is expected to affect around fifteen British operators, including : Avanti West Coast, Chiltern...

The opening up of the French rail system to competition is gathering pace. Following in the footsteps of Trenitalia, the first AVE (Renfe's high-speed train) from Barcelona arrived in Lyon at midday on Monday for a "dry run", a trial run without passengers in preparation for the imminent arrival of the Spanish national rail company...

When they opened their email inboxes this morning, passengers found a message from SNCF inviting them to "go for it" and take advantage of Connect Days and its 150,000 Inoui TGV tickets sold on SNCF Connect from €29 one way to Dunkirk in particular, €35 to Rennes and Nancy, and €49 to...

What is your assessment of 2022, and of this first year of operation in France? Roberto Rinaudo - We're proud to have performed well beyond our expectations in terms of customer satisfaction, load factors and positive feedback from passengers. But also in terms of our pricing policy. It's an excellent...

On 18 December 2021, Trenitalia's Frecciarossa trains set out to conquer the French rail network. On Wednesday, the management of the Italian carrier was keen to celebrate this first anniversary, and to take stock of these twelve months of operation. "One year on, it's a winning bet for passengers, and for...

Since Sunday, SNCF has been ramping up its high-speed services between France and Spain, offering two daily round trips on the Inoui TGV between Paris-Gare de Lyon and Barcelona Sants stations from 11 December. Departures are scheduled at 9.38 am and 2.54 pm from the Parisian capital, and at...

Planning for the Digital Schiene Deutschland (Digital Rail Network in Germany) is gathering pace. The Federal Transport Minister, Volker Wissing, and the Director of Infrastructure at Deutsche Bahn (DB), Berthold Huber, signed agreements to this effect in Berlin on 8 December. As a result, the contract to finance this infrastructure has been increased from approximately...

From 2 December, business travellers will have to contend with a new strike, this time instigated by train managers. SNCF expects traffic to be severely disrupted, particularly on long-distance trains. In France, according to information released on Wednesday morning, the...

With Europe's largest network of high-speed lines, the Spanish market is attracting a lot of interest from operators. After the SNCF and its Ouigo services, it's Trenitalia's turn to enter the battle under the Iryo brand. The official journey took place yesterday between Madrid and Valencia, in anticipation of Friday's opening of the first...

A report in the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore has not gone unnoticed on this side of the Alps: SNCF is planning to move further into Italy, following on from its service to Milan from Paris. From 2026 onwards, it plans to provide services from Paris via Lyon to...

After a test phase starting in July 2021, the SNCF is today launching its new "Train + Plane" (ex-TGVAIR) digital ticket in partnership with twelve airlines, including Air France, which has already switched to this solution since last summer and sold 40,000 tickets. The new service is designed to be entirely digital and does not require...

Over the last few days, many passengers using the Thalys network have had the unpleasant surprise of receiving text messages announcing that their train has been cancelled. What's more, the possibilities of reprotection are complicated, as several trains may be cancelled in the same day and the remaining trains are fully booked. This is a situation that Thalys has confirmed to us, citing...

Synergies between air and rail have been on the increase in recent months. Deutsche Bahn recently joined the oneworld airline alliance, and in July Rome Fiumicino airport signed a partnership agreement with FS Italiane to deploy Trenitalia services from the hub to Naples and Rome.