The first train of the Spanish company Renfe arrives this Friday at Marseille station from Madrid, seven months after the interruption of this service by SNCF. The AVE train, similar to the French TGV, is due to arrive in Marseille-Saint-Charles at 21:30 after an 8-hour and 5-minute journey from Madrid’s Atocha station. It will serve many cities along its route, including Zaragoza, Barcelona, Girona, Perpignan, Narbonne, Beziers, Montpellier, Nimes, Avignon and Aix-en-Provence.
To compete with SNCF in its former historic monopoly, Renfe has developed offers that defy any competition, with calling rates of €29 for Madrid to Marseille and even €9 for high-speed travel between French stations.
For now, the Spanish company offers one round trip flight per day from Friday to Monday, but it intends to operate this daily flight from October.
On July 13, the Spanish railway company opened the first line in France between Lyon and Barcelona.
Renfe is the second company to come to hunt the historic SNCF lands after Trenitalia, which opened a line between Paris and Milan via Lyon in December 2021.
Competition has reduced fares per passenger by 10%.
The Authority for Transport (ART) studied price changes on the Paris-Lyon section in 2022 to analyze the impact of competition and noted a reduction in fares per passenger of more than 10%.
Like its Italian counterpart, Renfe asked to take advantage of discounts on tolls (railways) for using the network to facilitate entry into the French market.
In addition to SNCF, Trenitalia and Renfe, a fourth operator has announced its intention to launch rails in France: Arriva. This subsidiary of German Deutsche Bahn plans to connect Groningen in the Netherlands with Paris, connecting the French capital to Brussels and Amsterdam from summer 2026.
All of these companies operate on an “open access” model; receive no government assistance. They have to supply trains, hire railroad workers, set up a sales system and get the famous furrows (traffic slots) to run their trains, which requires a strong back.
Source: Le Parisien
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