“A Montpellier-Barcelona at 19 euros? I will be watching carefully for the opening of ticket sales in July to book my next trip,” enthuses Marion. Student in physio school in Barcelona, ??the young Avignonnaise had abandoned the train to prefer the car or the bus, for price reasons.
“In BlaBlaCar, it’s a bit long, five hours, and not very comfortable. But, at 18 euros the ticket, it’s unbeatable, and reliable. “The SNCF? For the 25-year-old, “tickets are too expensive: 130 euros one way without subscription or card, not to mention the frequent delays”.
On June 15, Renfe, a Spanish railway company, hit hard for its arrival on the French rail market by announcing tickets for Spain at shock prices. “For journeys to Spain, tickets will be offered from 29 euros from Lyon and Marseille and 19 euros for intermediate journeys from Montpellier or Narbonne,” she said in a statement. communicated.
Its AVE trains (equivalent to the TGV) will thus connect France to Barcelona, ??Zaragoza and Madrid. When the Renfe AVE service begins to operate on these new lines, it will be the first time that a Spanish train driver will operate trains beyond Perpignan.
Domestic lines are also open with, again, a shock price announced for the launch: 9 euros one way between Marseille, Montpellier, Avignon, Béziers, Aix-en-Provence, Lyon and Narbonne. “The next steps will be the extension of AVE trains to the densest and most economically interesting corridors for the company and the positioning of Renfe as a reference operator for the French public”, she continues.
This start of commercial activity, “imminent” according to Renfe, is made possible thanks to the obtaining of the certificate of opening of a branch in Lyon, essential for the start of its activity in France. Its registration was made in the Trade and Companies Register for “the provision of rail passenger transport services, both nationally and internationally, intermediation in the provision of any tourist service, organization, provision and /or the marketing of package travel or package holidays, travel packages or tourist products, as well as the provision of other services or activities, services or activities complementary to or related to rail transport”.
The short-term objective of extending its AVE operations to other corridors such as Lyon-Paris is assumed. “This reorganization together with the opening of the Renfe branch in France are decisive steps to strengthen the group’s ability to be competitive in the French market. The group even intends to become a “reference operator for French users”.
Faced with these announcements, the SNCF is playing the fair play card. “We welcome this new competitor to the network,” a spokeswoman told us. That a new operator comes to enlarge the rail offer to the French is a good thing at a time when this means of transport is encouraged. And to recall “the good understanding” with Trenitalia, the first operator to end the SNCF monopoly on high speed in 2021 on the Paris-Lyon-Milan line.
However, relations with Renfe have not been good since the termination of the joint operating agreement desired by SNCF. Since 2013, a company, half-owned by SNCF and the other by Renfe, has operated the lines between Lyon, Marseille and Paris with Madrid and Barcelona.
“Ads are call prices, necessary to make yourself known to the French. We will see how they evolve in the months to come. With the opening to competition from Trenitalia, the price of the Paris-Lyon ticket fell by 8%, from 46 to 42 euros on average. Something to motivate future AVE passengers on both sides of the Franco-Spanish border.