train

We knew that British trains had a bad reputation because of their poor performance in terms of punctuality and regularity. This negative image has just been confirmed by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR). On the rail lines managed by Network Rail, 67.8% of trains...

The future Le Train company has announced that it has completed a new round of financing, raising eight million euros. Alongside the two historic shareholders, Crédit Mutuel Arkéa and Crédit Agricole Charente-Périgord, who have been with the company since May 2022, four new financial partners have come on board: Charente Périgord...

The Dutch government has given rail operators until 10 June to offer services on international routes. Arriva Netherlands has seized this opportunity. On 8 June, this subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn submitted a route application to the Dutch Consumer and Markets Authority (ACM). The operator wants to...

Of course, comparison is not always reason. At a time when we are scrutinising every air journey to assess the benefit/carbon impact ratio, it is better to have all the cards in hand to assess the relevance of an alternative, if one exists. The decree ratifying the ban on (some) domestic flights is a logical step in this direction. The...

After the programme that gave birth to the TGV forty years ago, a project on the same scale - 100 billion euros - is preparing to revolutionise the French rail world in the decades to come. Not at high speed this time, but at the gentle pace of commuter or regional trains. A...

Launched in 2013 with what the SNCF called a "start-up spirit", the Ouigo TGV has gone from strength to strength, now accounting for almost 25% of high-speed rail travel in France. Originally linking Marseille and Montpellier to TGV stations in the Ile-de-France region (Massy, Roissy-CDG, Marne-la-Vallée), the pink trains have been...

1,356: that's the number of train journeys analysed in a report by the European Commission, which wants to boost the share of rail travel within the European Union. The report (available in English only), entitled "How fast are rail trips between EU cities and is rail faster than air?", shows that air travel is still in the...

Europe continues to strengthen its cross-border rail services. A new rail link between Dutch Railways (NS), Arriva and SNCB is due to get under way in December on a project linking the three main cities of the Euregio Meuse-Rhine, Liège, Maastricht and Aachen. The regional governments of the Euregio have initialled a memorandum of understanding...

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 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...

More comfort and flexibility for passengers. This is what Deutsche Bahn (DB) wants to achieve with the launch of electronic panels displaying the occupancy rates of its carriages in real time. Information on how full the carriages are is now transmitted directly to passengers on the platforms, in the carriages and also via...

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...

The European Commission has approved the French government's intention to limit short-haul flights on its domestic network. Its decision was published at the end of the week in the EU's Official Journal, and welcomed by the Minister in charge of the dossier. "Mr Clément Beaune, the French Minister for Transport, welcomes the decision of...

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...

On the international front, SNCF opened a second route on Friday for its low-cost subsidiary Ouigo Spain between Madrid and Valencia, a year and a half after the route between the Spanish capital and Barcelona (via Zaragoza and Tarragona) was used by three million passengers. The new service is operated by double-decker Euroduplex TGVs...

A few days after organising a round table on opening up rail travel to competition, and on the eve of a major event in the business travel sector, IFTM Top Resa, Trainline is sending out a strong signal to the business travel industry. The booking platform has teamed up with Havas Voyages to make life easier for business travellers when...

If the punctuality of the rail operators invited on Wednesday by Trainline is anything to go by, business travel in France is certainly on the right track. The round table organised by the European distribution platform kicked off right on time - and even a little early...