Trenitalia comes to challenge the SNCF on high speed – Liberation
Competition on high speed is becoming a reality for SNCF. On Monday, the Italian public company Trenitalia will put on sale the first tickets of its new Paris-Lyon-Turin-Milan line. The transalpine trains, the Frecciarosse (“red arrows”) will be running from Saturday, December 18, just in time for the start of the Christmas holidays. Two round trips per day are planned on this route, one morning and one afternoon.
This is just the start for Italian society. “By the end of spring 2022, we plan to add three daily Paris-Lyon round trips”, says Roberto Rinaudo, CEO of Trenitalia France, in the Parisian-Today in France. The base price is 23 euros for a Paris-Lyon and 29 euros for a Paris-Milan, but the prices are expected to increase depending on the dates of the request. A business class, called “executive”, is also planned, with fixed prices (139 and 165 euros) and an à la carte meal.
Most enjoyable and commendable ax
The leader hopes above all to make a difference with his French rival “On the service” : “Our fleet is recent, it dates from 2014 and technologically very advanced.” He highlights the speed capacity of his trains, up to 360 km / h according to him, “Italian comfort and design” and the quality of the wifi. In Release this week, SNCF boss Jean-Pierre Farandou reacted in advance: “Our SNCF passenger subsidiary has already improved its service to Paris-Lyon by improving its service to business travelers, because we understand that it is a strong point of Italians to position themselves on the top of the range rail.”
This is the first time that SNCF has been challenged on the high-speed market since it was opened to competition in December 2020. The choice of the Paris-Lyon axis is no accident: it is the most daily and the most profitable of the French rail company, which has 24 journeys there. Other companies must try, in the years to come, to nibble market share on the hexagonal high-speed lines. The Spanish company Renfe is thus eyeing the Paris-London and Paris-Marseille axes.
SNCF must also now fight over its former monopoly of regional lines, which will effectively be opened to competition in December 2023. A few weeks ago, the Marseille-Nice link was awarded, from 2025, to the Transdev operator by the southern region.