“We are expecting a very good summer”, rejoices Alain Krakovitch. The director of TGV and Intercity trains at SNCF Voyageurs has already sold 10% more tickets than for the summer of 2022 (500,000 additional tickets), 15% more than in 2019. “The trains fill up very quickly”confirms Christopher Michau, who heads the European booking platform Trainline in France. “ We are seeing a massive return of foreign customers, with three-digit growth compared to the summer of 2019.” The train appeals to travelers attentive to their carbon footprint, in all countries and to international destinations: “We have 30% more reservations than in 2022 on journeys crossing a border”notes Mr. Michau.
If demand soars, supply also increases. There will be more train seats in France this summer. The competition is not there for nothing. The example of the Paris-Lyon line is instructive: the arrival of Trenitalia on this link, extended to Milan, with aggressive prices, stimulated the SNCF which increased its offer of Ouigo trains. According to the Transport Regulatory Authority (ART), which compiled the figures for 2020 and 2021, a Ouigo trip costs twice as much on average per kilometer for the traveler. “In Paris-Lyon, there were 10% more trains in 2022, at cheaper fares, concludes art, which enabled passengers to save around 10%, with no loss of revenue for the incumbent operator. »
This summer, another company, Renfe, is coming to French high-speed lines, which have been freely open to competition since December 2020. The Spanish company will run its first trains between Lyon and Barcelona on July 13 and between Madrid and Marseille the 28th of the same month. Tickets, like those of Trenitalia, are not on sale on the travel agency and SNCF Connect app, but on that of the companies or on Trainline.
Nine hundred additional trains
Meanwhile, the SNCF is also strengthening its offer. “We have been thinking for several months about the response we can bring to the increase in attendance”, explains Mr. Krakovitch. This summer, it offers 450,000 more seats than in 2022, i.e. 900 additional trains. Some are chartered with Deutsche Bahn, with every Saturday 1,000 additional places between Frankfurt and Bordeaux.
Thanks to the delivery of new trains by Alstom in the first half of the year, the capacity of certain Paris-Bordeaux trains will be doubled. The company is adding a third daily round trip on the Paris-Barcelona line, i.e. 1,000 additional seats, between mid-July and September, and is opening three new Ouigo routes: Paris-La Rochelle (via Niort and Surgères), Paris- Brest (via Saint-Brieuc-Guingamp-Morlaix) and Paris-Perpignan. As for the night trains, they are getting longer: the Paris-Lourdes will go as far as Hendaye, the Paris-Cerbère becomes daily between July 8 and September.
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