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Top 14: at what time and on which channel to follow Perpignan-Clermont?
Madrid
A TGV Lyon-Perpignan for 9 euros, a Montpellier-Barcelona for 19 euros or a Marseille-Madrid for 29 euros. These are some of the routes that the Spanish railway operator Renfe will offer from July on board its TGV AVE. The Lyon-Barcelona will be the first line in circulation, from July 13, while the Marseille-Madrid will enter service on July 28.
Tickets will be on sale from Wednesday. By presenting the two lines this Monday, the president of Renfe, Raül Blanco, underlined "a historic day for Renfe, France and Spain". Indeed, after Trenitalia, it is the turn of the Spanish company to challenge the SNCF TGVs in France. Some of its customers will only travel on the French sections of these international lines.
The Lyon-Barcelona will serve the intermediate stations of Valence, Nîmes, Montpellier, Béziers, Narbonne, Perpignan. Before crossing the border and continuing towards Figueres and Girona. The Marseille-Madrid will stop in Aix-en-Provence, Avignon, and Nîmes, then follow the same route to Barcelona and continue the journey to the Spanish capital. That is two routes identical to those carried out from 2013 to 2022 by Ellipsos, a joint subsidiary of SNCF… and Renfe! The common adventure had ended at the request of the French, who had won the authorization to circulate Ouigo in Spain and thus set himself up as a competitor to his Spanish partner.
An experience " which helps", recognizes a source from the company, "as well as operating the AVE in Spain for thirty-two years". 25 Spanish drivers assisted by 25 controllers will be assigned to this service, which will gradually ramp up. Initially, trains will only run from Friday to Monday, i.e. 16 times a week. Trips will then be available every day of the week, from September on the Lyon line and from October on the Marseille line, and will increase to 28 departures per week.
Spectacularly low introductory prices will give way, at an undisclosed date, to flexible prices that vary according to demand. But Renfe could well continue in France its policy based on low prices, precisely the strategy followed in Spain by… the SNCF. “ They will probably do low cost, predicts Camilo García, an economist specializing in the railway. A traveler from the French side, who takes the train for a journey of 20 or 45 minutes, does not have time to appreciate the quality of services for the traveler, he will especially remember the price. Especially since on the French market, the top of the range is already covered by Trenitalia, recently landed, while the SNCF occupies the middle of the segment.
The president of Renfe insisted on "the important moment" which constitutes the arrival of Renfe in France. Although the company already has international experience, particularly in the Czech Republic, Saudi Arabia and Latin America, this is the first time that it has operated alone in a foreign territory. “Since 2021, the liberalization process has been intense in Spain, recalled Raül Blanco, who now has to face two competitors, the French Ouigo and the Italian Iryo. Renfe must move from its status as a single operator to that of market leader in Spain and reference operator in Europe and worldwide. »
The arrival of the SNCF in Spain forced Renfe to set up its national low cost offer, Avlo. It has also accelerated its internationalization strategy. The group wants to achieve 10% of its turnover abroad by 2028. The presentation, in Barcelona, in Castilian, translated into French by an interpreter with the exception of a short passage in Catalan and French, yet seemed primarily intended for a Spanish audience. “ They give the impression of wanting to first capture Spanish travelers, mainly departing from Barcelona, more than the Franco-French clientele, analyzes García. Which is a questionable strategy, because the AVE could be competitive on journeys in France, from Lyon to Montpellier for example. »
Unless Renfe is still running in France, exploiting the lines it knows well before attacking the jewel in the crown: the Paris-Lyon. “The objective is to arrive in Paris. Our dream would be for Spanish athletes to travel to the Olympic Games on board a Renfe AVE. “If the Spanish company wants to invest the axis Paris-Lyon with its TGV, it owes nothing to chance. With 52 million passengers out of the 120 million transported on high-speed lines in France in 2019, it was the busiest line in France. That hasn't changed since. And despite the arrival of Trenitalia, which offers five round trips Paris-Lyon per day in addition to the 23 operated by SNCF, there is probably room for a new entrant. “The activity of the SNCF on this axis has not decreased since the launch of Trenitalia in the TGV in France. And the filling rates of the two companies, which are very high, show that all the demand is not yet satisfied, "said Arnaud Aymé, transport specialist at the consulting firm Sia.
Above all, the Paris-Lyon is a very profitable line. Because, if the attendance is very high, the costs are not the highest. Thus, the tolls paid by rail operators on Paris-Lyon are lower than on Paris-Bordeaux. Still, launching TGVs on Paris-Lyon is a business that requires very strong backs: a TGV train costs 30 million euros. It takes eight to provide service with enough frequencies on a line every day.
