No longer call it TGV M: it has been renamed TGV InOui 2025. Its nose is more tapered than that of previous generations, but, like them, it has a black ellipse on its forehead. Revealed in Belfort, in the Alstom workshops, on April 29, the rest of the livery will be white, with a few very light gray semi-circles forming a sort of wave along the entire length of the train. SNCF Voyageurs, the company which controls the trains, has chosen reflective paint rather than the traditional colored adhesive film. The process is more sustainable and above all the color is better adapted to global warming. Because French trains are designed to last, often more than forty years, unlike Japanese trains, which only run for fifteen years.
With 20% less energy consumption, and up to 20% more passengers (740 seats), this TGV InOui 2025 must be the national company’s response to intensifying competition, particularly on the Paris-Lyon-Marseille axis. It has the great advantage of being modular, with first class carriages which transform into second class to accommodate more families during major departures. Between the two power cars, you can insert, as desired, seven, eight or nine cars.
When will we see it in stations and on the rails other than furtively? Today, it only passes in a breeze, still swallowing the million kilometers that the four pre-production trainsets and the first commercial trainset must have covered to be approved. It will also not transport Olympic or Paralympic athletes. Alstom hopes to have completed testing by early September and “deliver the first production trainset in early 2025”promises Jean-Baptiste Eyméoud, president of Alstom France.
The CEO of SNCF Voyageurs, Christophe Fanichet, confirms his impatience − the order dates from 2016 − and especially that of the TGV teams, “who misses him so much”. And for good reason: June promises to be a historic month. In May, the trains were full for the bridges. This will continue in June with, in addition, business trips not taken in May.
The commissioning of the new TGVs is only planned for mid-2025. SNCF Voyageurs should receive between four and five trains in 2025, then a dozen each year. In total, SNCF Voyageurs ordered 115, for an amount of 3.5 billion euros, including around fifteen for international.
Delay in developing the “graft”
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