SNCF wants to double the number of passengers in Ouigo by 2030

Europe 1 with AFP / photo credits: SAMEER AL-DOUMY / AFP 19:30 pm, May 03, 2023

SNCF wants to double by 2030 the number of passengers of its low-cost TGV Ouigo, with more renovated trains and new destinations in France and elsewhere in Europe, said Wednesday SNCF Voyageurs. "Our goal is to continue to develop Ouigo," TGV-Intercités director Alain Krakovitch told reporters on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of this train launched in April 2013 between Marne-la-Vallée, Marseille and Montpellier.

"We want to double the number of passengers who take low-cost SNCF Ouigo trains by 2030," from 24 to 50 million, out of a number of passengers on high-speed trains that would increase from 140 to 230 million, he said. These figures include routes in Europe, including Spain where Ouigo launched in 2021. TGV-Intercités - a management of SNCF Voyageurs - intends to do this to enlarge the fleet dedicated to this low-cost TGV, which must go from 28 to 50 trains thanks to the renovation "mid-life", that is to say after fifteen to twenty years of service, of conventional TGV. The oldest Ouigo will be refreshed and brought up to new standards.

Half of Ouigo travellers pay less than 25 euros for their ticket

Alain Krakovitch also promises "more comfort", with improved seats, sockets everywhere, a "space of conviviality", etc. The new formula trains will have more seats and will accommodate bicycles. The boss of TGV intends to launch new destinations in France and Europe, but he did not reveal anything Wednesday. Ouigo CEO Jérôme Laffon is already pleased with the "full cardboard" encountered by the last lines opened by the blue and pink train of the SNCF: Brest, La Rochelle and most recently Perpignan.

>>

READ ALSO – 5G on board, less energy consumed, more seats... Alstom CEO unveils the TGV of the future

Half of Ouigo travelers pay less than 25 euros for their ticket (including children), only 15% pay more than 50 euros and the maximum price has been lowered from 115 to 99 euros, he noted. SNCF's low-cost TGV is profitable, as its gains cover investments, added Jérôme Laffon. It allows, according to him, to "occupy the market" in the face of competition and to win new audiences, by "making the mobility cake bigger".

The "Ouigo Train Classique", a pink Coral train launched in April 2022 on Paris-Lyon and Paris-Nantes, is also considered "very satisfactory". But it is "still too early to say" if it will be sustained because the two-year trial period is not over, the official noted.