2023-07-06 20:58:01
Attraction of novelty, curiosity of train passengers, or (future) real fundamental movement? The arrival on the tricolor rails of Renfe, the equivalent of the SNCF on the other side of the Pyrenees, seduces users. The Spanish company has already sold 31,000 tickets for its AVE trains in France since June 21, when reservations opened.
Renfe detailed, this Thursday, July 6 in Lyon (Lyon), the advantages of its AVE train offer, with which it will begin to serve France next week. It will start operating next Thursday on the Barcelona-Lyon line, then will open a Madrid-Marseille line from July 28.
In six days, it will thus put into service the AVE S-100 trains, a “model that reaches 300 km/h, with 347 seats in standard and comfort class cars, wifi connection and on-board entertainment system, Coffee Car and a characteristic interior of Spanish high-speed trains, with a high level of comfort on board,” explains the company.
Seats at 29 euros… and even 9 euros on sections
Renfe has launched a promotional price campaign to position itself on the French market. Tickets to travel on the complete route, the Lyon-Barcelona Marseille-Madrid connections, are 29 euros. Unlike Trenitalia, since its launch in December 2021 on Paris-Lyon, Renfe will not have to face competition from SNCF on these two routes. The French company abandoned these correspondences, in February, after the rupture of its partnership with, precisely, Renfe.
In addition, a salvo of tickets at 9 euros will allow travelers to discover the Spanish high-speed train on a section, with departure or stop in Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Avignon, Béziers, Aix-en-Provence or Narbonne. The two lines will connect a total of 17 destinations on both sides of the border.
Final objective, to compete with the SNCF on the Paris-Lyon
The Lyon-Barcelona line, the most requested, will be operated from Friday to Monday and will have a daily frequency from September 1. The same goes for the Madrid-Marseille line, which will have a daily frequency from October 1.
Ultimately, the Spanish railway company intends to be competitive on the main French axis, Paris-Lyon, with extensions to Barcelona and Marseille. For the Spanish group attacked on its market by Ouigo, the low-cost subsidiary of the SNCF, it is a question of replicating, by positioning itself as a “reference operator” on the French rail.
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