With “Ouigo Classic Train”, the SNCF is testing its slower and cheaper trains

Europe 1 with AFP 7:05 p.m., April 11, 2022

SNCF on Monday launched relatively slow conventional trains, marketed by a subsidiary under the Ouigo brand, on the Paris-Lyon and Paris-Nantes lines already served by TGVs, a novelty denounced in Paris by a demonstration of railway workers.

Operated on the model of the low-cost TGV Ouigo, these "Ouigo Train Classique" use old Corail cars refreshed and coated in pink, with a little blue.

The opposite of the visual identity of the Rapid Ouigos. 

"A little vintage side"

The interior is quite disparate: some seats needed to be replaced, only a few cars have electrical outlets, network maps go back years... There is no wifi.

"There is a little 'vintage' side that suits us well and which appeals to travellers," says Alain Krakovitch, director of TGV-Intercités.

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"We will go further in the interior renovation if we continue the experience", adds Stéphane Blandin, director of development of Oslo, the subsidiary of the public company which operates the new service.

"We give ourselves two years to see if we find our audience", the idea then being, if all goes well, to then expand the offer "where there are people on the highways", according to Alain Krakovitch.

The company currently offers two daily round trips between Paris (Austerlitz or Bercy) and Lyon-Perrache, which take between 4:45 and 5:15 hours, with stops in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges (from June) , Melun, Dijon, Chalon-sur-Saône and Mâcon.

Banknotes ranging from 10 to 30 euros

It takes between 3.5 hours and 4.15 hours to get from Paris-Austerlitz to Nantes, with three round trips per day passing through Le Mans or Tours, with stops respectively at Juvisy, Massy-Palaiseau, Versailles-Chantiers, Chartres , Le Mans and Angers, or Juvisy, Les Aubrais, Blois, Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, Saumur and Angers.

As with Ouigo, tickets are only sold on the internet, with fixed prices ranging from 10 to 30 euros - and five euros for children -, with options for luggage or bicycles.

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 Taking the train at a low price, Ouigo's successful bet

The first train, from Lyon to Paris on Monday morning, "was the cheapest we found", testified Françoise Vidal, a retiree from Dijon.

"We are retired, we have time!"

Other travellers, in no hurry, found the schedules convenient.

“Our job is to pick up travelers who today take the car or the coach”, underlines Christophe Fanichet, CEO of SNCF Voyageurs, targeting FlixBus, BlaBlaCar and other individual cars.

It targets customers "not necessarily attached to high speed" who are "loving low prices".

The initiative is part of a more global policy to double the share of rail by the 2030s.

Protests disrupted early departures

A few hundred railway workers had gathered Monday morning at Paris-Austerlitz, at the call of SUD-Rail and the CFDT, to protest against the operation of these new links by a subsidiary, where management is asking for more versatility from employed to drive down costs.

After loudly hailing the arrival of the first train - not very full - from Lyon, SUD-Rail activists forced their way onto the platform where another train was due to leave for Nantes, whose departure they delayed for an hour.

The police had tried, in vain, to prevent the demonstrators from entering the quays and used tear gas.

"We say yes to more trains, but the management chooses to produce them by subsidiaries", lamented Thomas Cavel, general secretary of the CFDT-Cheminots, denouncing "the least on social conditions".

"What will be applied to them (Oslo employees) is the branch agreement for the organization of work. Which will lead them to work 15 to 20 days more per year", criticized Erik Meyer, federal secretary of SUD-Rail.

"Our motto is to say that becoming a subsidiary is a betrayal!"