From the July 13The Spanish operator Renfe operates its high-speed trains (AVE, Spanish High Speed) between Lyon and Barcelona and between Marseille and Madrid, becoming SNCF’s second national competitor after the arrival of Trenitalia. It says it carried 100,000 passengers in mid-September and is targeting 400,000 people in 2024.
The airline has never hidden its development ambitions in France, as it reiterated them this Tuesday.
This is good news for the consumer because competition automatically causes a drop in prices and good news for the environment since the more supply there is, the more people take the train.
No low cost approach
It remains to be seen whether Renfe will be able to continue being commercially aggressive. From October 4 to 10, the operator will offer tickets for 15 and 20 euros in Choose Confort + class for trips to France starting on October 23, and from 29 euros to Spain from Montpellier, Nimes, Béziers, Narbonne or Perpignan. Although it offers very low call prices, the operator confirms today that these are temporary operations.
It must be said that the economic model is limited. The tolls that any operator must pay to SNCF Réseau, a 100% subsidiary of SNCF, to operate an LGV (high-speed line) are among the most expensive in Europe, especially in Paris-Lyon. Tolls that will increase by 7% next year and will affect all operators. “An essential increase to finance maintenance operations,” justifies the SNCF subsidiary.
Renfe has also shown its ambitions in regional connections (TER) gradually opened to competition. “Renfe has great interest in tenders for regional trains or Transiliens trains. Why not become a reference operator in regional trains in a few years?” imagines Susana Lozano.
Source: BFM TV
