TGV

Since China launched its high-speed rail system in 2008, it has steadily gained market share. A recent study on the impact of high-speed rail on China's three airline giants indicates that around 80 % of China's domestic air routes will be competing in 2025 with...

Air France and SNCF have just confirmed the launch of the "Train + Air" TGV service between Bordeaux Saint-Jean and Massy TGV stations. Massy TGV provides fast access to Orly airport. The first TGVs will start operating on 15 December, the date of the second phase of deconfinement. Passengers...

Last spring, Air France undertook to suspend its operations on domestic routes. This decision applies to routes where rail offers an alternative within 2.5 hours. While CDG has its own TGV station integrated into Terminal 2, Orly passengers must go to Massy TGV station at...

Trainline, the booking platform dedicated to train and bus travel, is adding a new feature designed to make it easier to get a refund for a late train. Operating with 270 carriers in 45 countries, Trainline has chosen France as the first country to offer this service. According to a survey conducted with OpinionWay last August, 62%...

The opening up of the rail market to competition is beginning to take shape. Official from 12 December 2020, it is sparking the ambitions of SNCF's competitors in France, such as Trenitalia and Thello, but it is also opening up development prospects outside France for the French company. The SNCF recently announced the launch of a...

In preparation for the hoped-for return of business travellers on its TGVs this autumn, despite the Covid-19 crisis, SNCF is bolstering its sales with a promotional offer aimed at frequent travellers, the bulk of whom are 'pro' customers. From 14 September to 7 October inclusive, the Liberté card is being sold at...

The travel experience on high-speed trains between Europe and the UK is now back to normal. Since 7 September, passengers have been able to enjoy a full range of catering services on board Eurostar trains. Limited for a time due to the pandemic, this development comes on top of the reopening of the lounges...

It's now official: Eurostar will be operating a direct service between the Netherlands and the UK from 26 October 2020. Its debut was originally scheduled for 30 April this year, but Covid has postponed it until a better time. Making the journey in a single stretch, with no passport control in Brussels, the trains will...

SNCF and Spanish rail operator Renfe have announced the reintroduction of high-speed services between France and Spain on 1 July. From that date onwards, two trains a day will run in each direction from Paris and Marseille to Figueras, Girona and Barcelona, with other French cities...

Masks compulsory, one train out of two for daily journeys before rapidly increasing to three out of four, a limited number of TGVs: as information is given to the various national newspapers, the SNCF is setting out its transport plan for the period after 11 May. While travel will remain limited to 100...

The announcement of a €7 billion support plan for Air France, made official on 24 April, included a number of quid pro quos, and the environmental aspect was explicitly targeted. Wednesday's comments by Bruno Le Maire confirmed the creditor's demands of the company, emphasising that "this support for Air France is not a condition for the...

In a post-confinement world, where Covid-19 acts like a sword of Damocles on travel, the battle between rail and air is likely to be fierce to attract future travellers, particularly on relatively short routes. Since the launch of the high-speed rail networks, we already know that the train has little to...

As part of its commitment to the environment - and while the Flygskam ("shame of flying") movement originating in Sweden is gaining ground - the government is now taking all the necessary measures to join the virtuous circle of an exemplary State in terms of energy transition. Last Wednesday, a plan was presented to the Ecological Defence Council, including a...

French business travel operators are taking advantage of the summer to invest in their fleets. While Air France has just announced the acquisition of 60 new Airbus aircraft, it's the SNCF's turn to buy new equipment. The Board of Directors of SNCF Mobilités has just approved an order for 12 TGV Océane high-speed trains. The amount...

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...

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,...

It was a titanic project that was not so easy to achieve. The new TGV line linking the new West Kowloon station in Hong Kong to those in Shenzhen and Guangzhou (Canton) will have been delayed for three years and cost 10.8 billion dollars, a third more than it cost...

13.4 billion: this is the investment that the government will be making over the current five-year period, as part of the Mobility Orientation Law (LOM). It's an ambitious programme, and one in which rail will play a key role, as Elisabeth Borne recently explained to the Conseil d'Orientation des Infrastructures (COI). Indeed, the...

After Paris-Montparnasse on10 December 2017, OUIGO will enter Paris-Est station from 7 July 2018. From that date, SNCF will offer four daily return trips to six destinations: three already linked to Paris by high-speed trains - Champagne-Ardenne TGV, Lorraine TGV and Strasbourg - plus three new ones: Metz, Nancy and...

Long a monopoly, Deutsche Bahn has been facing competition for more than a decade, and for the time being this has only been on regional routes. With one striking result: Deutsche Bahn's (DB) share of the market is shrinking year on year. Admittedly, the German national rail carrier remains number 1 with...