After the TER and TGV lines, the State begins the opening of the competence of night trains.
“Today (Thursday, March 20, Editor’s note) The prior notice has been put online to information on the competence process of lot C of the Balance Trains territory (TET), today constituted by the five TET night lines,” says Pierre-Christophe Soncarrieu, assistant of the manager of the organizing authority of the equilibrium trains from the territory to the Ministry of Transportation.
As a reminder, these lines connect Paris to: Aurillac, Briançon, Cerbère, Latour-de-Carol, Nice, Rodez-Albi, Tarbes and Toulouse.
The start of the new operation is scheduled for December 2030 and for a period of eight years.
A forced frame
Remember that for high -speed lines, it is said that the competition is “in open access”: a new operator is basically what you want from the moment it has its necessary safety and traffic certificates, Stock Rodar and Surcos reserved with SNCF Résau.
But for the intercities (night trains included) and ter, the competition is carried out through tenders and lots, which implies obligations for the candidate (served, frequencies, material) imposed by the State (for the interim) or by the regions (for TER).
It is the State that manages and 100% finances these balance balance trains as an organizing authority, by subsidizing them, and especially by imposing their chronic deficits (unlike TGV).
Therefore, the approach is more complex, more limited. Therefore, the question is to know which companies, apart from the SNCF travelers (which will be mechanical candidates), they will dare to embark on these lines difficult to exploit.
Because if the night train confirmed its success last year with the French with almost one million travelers, against 700,000 in 2022 (with more lines, however), these lines are Very difficult to make profitable.
Very random profitability
Therefore, when a TGV seat can be sold 4.5 times a day, one position can only be once a day. Mathematical conclusion, a night -train is 4.5 times less profitable than a TGV.
The night train is also a lot of fixed costs in terms of rolling stock, maintenance with immobilized trains during the day, and this makes the lines deficits.
The fact is that the new operators will be able to trust a strategic asset: new trains that will significantly improve the quality of the service and, therefore, the attraction of the offers (and will be put at the level of our Austrian neighbors, for example).
In February, the State has launched its call to requests for the manufacture of 180 literas and 27 locomotives, an investment of several hundred millions of euros, a sacred carrot for the candidates.
“The State wants cars to offer an extended range of comfort levels,” announces Pierre-Christophe Soncarrieu. This “new equipment will expand the comfort proposal, with bedroom spaces, better accessibility with particular places that are and seated for wheelchair users, better services and more places to transport bicycles.”
The new participants will benefit from new trains (in 2030)
Given the increasingly long -term manufacturing times by the manufacturers, the State sets in 2030 the date of the first deliveries, which coincides with the start of the exploitation of new participants.
When it opens to the competition of the Dours of Nantes-Bordeaux and Nantes-Lyon, only the SNCF, Renfe and the Train travelers were applied and is the entity of the SNCF group that (still) won.
What causes questions from candidate operators. Therefore, the train calls “the State to guarantee a framework of transparent and fair competence for the next lots. It is essential to guarantee access to complete and robust data, and anticipate the structuring of future lots with acceptable operating conditions that avoid asymmetries between competitors.”
Should we change the rules of the game? The train warns: “The attractiveness of these tenders depends on it.” Therefore, the number of candidates for these night lines will allow you to have an idea.
Source: BFM TV
