train

The long-awaited project for a direct rail link between Lisbon and Madrid took a major step forward on 30 October with the signing of an agreement involving the Portuguese and Spanish governments and the European Commission. The service will initially take 5 hours by conventional train between Lisbon and Madrid by 2030, a time that will be reduced...

Barcelona-El Prat airport is preparing to take a step forward in its intermodal development. The Catalan hub is awaiting the arrival of an express train. Designed by Alstom and operated by FGC Mobilitat, it is due to enter service in late 2026 or early 2027. The first of the ten electric trains was unveiled at the end of October. The President of the...

In its plans for future competition with Eurostar and possibly other challengers, Virgin Trains has just taken a serious option. The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has just granted it the right to use the Temple Mills maintenance workshop located to the north-east of London's St. Pancras station, which until now had been used by Eurostar...

Eurostar CEO Gwendoline Cazenave recently told us that the order for new high-speed trains was well under way. This has now been achieved with the signing of an initial tranche of 30 trainsets with the manufacturer Alstom. Twenty more should follow to reach the target of a renewed fleet of 50 high-speed trains...

While Transdev has been operating the Marseille-Toulon-Nice line since June, the Southern Region opted on Friday to keep SNCF as operator of the East Provence and Alps lines, following the call for tenders launched in 2024 as part of the opening up of rail competition. Passengers should therefore see no real difference in...

After the TGV Inoui, the SNCF is adding the Ouigo trains to and from Lyon Saint-Exupéry airport to its Train + air offer, which allows you to travel with a single ticket by train and then by plane to and from Lyon airport. This new offer concerns trains serving the south of France, the...

A new day of action is in prospect with the strike on 2 October. On the whole, French skies should escape the turbulence. The French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC) has announced that it will apply the minimum service provisions to air navigation services at Paris Beauvais airport alone. A reduction in the flight schedule...

How would you sum up the summer, particularly with regard to the new Paris-Marseille service? Fabrice Toledano - We've had a very positive summer. Firstly on the operational side, because we launched the Paris-Marseille service on schedule in mid-June and added a Paris-Lyon frequency before the summer period. In terms of results...

Rail projects are multiplying in Europe. These include a future direct line between London and Berlin. An agreement to this effect was signed on 17 July between German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Under the terms of the agreement, the two governments will work together to remove the legal and logistical obstacles...

September is already shaping up to be a chaotic month on the social front, and business travellers will soon have to contend with several areas of turbulence. On Wednesday, three unions met to call a strike for 18 September: CGT-Cheminots, UNSA-Ferroviaire and CFDT-Cheminots. In a press release, the CFDT-Cheminots warned: "Our...

In the first half of 2025, 1.41 million people travelled on SBB trains every day, 4.8% more than in the same period of the previous year. This is an all-time record. Another reason for satisfaction: 94.5% of trains were punctual. That's an increase of 0.7 points on the same period last year...

A new report by the NGO Transport & Environment (T&E) highlights the imbalances in European rail funding. Between 2021 and 2023, seven mega-projects took up 31 % of the European Interconnection Mechanism (EIM), the EU's main transport fund, or €6.6 billion. At the same time, 84 urgent improvement projects received only...

The number of railway lines continues to grow in Europe, including over long distances. And not always by high-speed train. On 1 May 2026, for example, a direct service will be launched between Copenhagen and Prague via Berlin, following an agreement between Danish Railways (DSB), Deutsche Bahn and...

In the end, it will be Velvet, the trade name chosen by the Proxima group from among countless proposals for its high-speed trains, due to run along the Atlantic seaboard from 2028. It is the most advanced project of the SNCF's competitors, starting from scratch, with Proxima having announced last June that it would...

Passenger rail transport grew by 6% in 2024 (and by 14% compared with 2019, the reference year), a level equivalent to the two previous years, according to the latest report from the Transport Regulation Authority (ART). The increase, which amounts to 4% for high-speed trains alone, could have been...

Flixbus is asserting its rail ambitions in Germany with an order for 65 high-speed trains for its subsidiary FlixTrain. Worth €2.4 billion, the order will be split between carriages assembled by the Spanish company Talgo and locomotives built by the German manufacturer Siemens. The contract also includes maintenance of the Talgo 230 trainsets...

"We are a nature and culture destination, with a strong urban identity due to Germany's decentralisation". This description, as told by the Director of ONAT in France, Bénédicte Richer, positions Germany as an excellent alternative for MICE organisers and French business travellers. Béatrice Richer, Director of the Office de...

What role do trains play in business travel, and what role do business travellers play on trains? That's how the study published by BCD Travel at the end of April might be summed up. TMC surveyed no fewer than 681 business travellers, both in Europe (60%) and Asia-Pacific (40%). All were...

With revenues up by 11% in 2024 (800 million euros or 6 billion Danish crowns) and passenger traffic up by 6% to 169.6 million, Danish railways DSB are confident in the future of rail and are investing massively. This should lead to improvements on international routes...

After the presentation of the next TGV M trains a month ago, SNCF lifted the veil on the first renovated Ouigo train, called "Tango", at the Gare de Lyon on Thursday morning. Gone are the flashy pink and blue colours so typical of the low-cost service launched by the SNCF in 2013....