With an Ouigo Madrid-Barcelona, SNCF begins the liberalization of rail in Europe
With the same jingle as in France, the first low-cost Ouigo left Madrid-Atocha at 10:15 am Friday, reserved for a few guests.
He arrived in Barcelona at 12:47 p.m. after traveling 620 km.
AFP - PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
In Spain, this Monday morning, when the state of emergency has just been lifted, the first trains with passengers from the low-cost French company Ouigo begin to circulate between Madrid and Barcelona.
With this line, the liberalization of rail in Europe has just begun.
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With our correspondent in Madrid,
Diane Cambon
Five daily round trips will cover the Madrid – Barcelona line at extremely competitive prices from Monday.
Tickets are available from 9 euros, for an average call price of around 25 euros.
We are therefore very far from the 70 euros on average for a one-way trip between the two Spanish cities offered by the Spanish company Renfe.
Ouigo thus becomes the first major competitor on Spanish soil with its 14 low-cost double-decker TGVs and its bar car.
The French company hired nearly 1,300 people with 95% permanent jobs and invested more than 600 million euros to establish itself in Spain, a country which has the largest high-speed rail network in Europe.
Thus, Ouigo is already planning to cover the Madrid-Seville-Malaga lines, but also Madrid-Valencia.
For its part, the Spanish company, which has fallen behind with the pandemic, intends to counter-attack by launching its low-cost company Avlo by the end of June and plans in the future to also establish itself in the rail market. French.
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