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SNCF: "Ouigo arrives in downtown Lyon with 3 round trips per day from Paris"

2020-02-17T14:39:20.205Z


The director general, Stéphane Rapebach, announces to the Parisian that the low-cost TGV of the SNCF will serve from June the link the p


Stéphane Rapebach, general manager of Ouigo, officially announces that the low-cost TGV will serve Lyon city center from Paris from June 1 with three round trips per day. Until then, Ouigo served the capital of the Gauls by stopping at Saint-Exupéry airport, located 30 km from the city. A strategic choice for SNCF, a few months before the opening of competition for high-speed lines in December 2020.

Ouigo will celebrate its 7th anniversary this year. What is the balance sheet of the low cost TGV of the SNCF?

STEPHANE RAPEBACH. He is very good. In 2019, we transported 17 million travelers to 41 destinations compared to 11 million a year earlier. It is an exceptional growth leap. More than 17% of TGVs are Ouigo and by the end of next year, our target of 25% will be achieved. This Tuesday, we will even celebrate our 50 millionth traveler since the creation of the company in 2013. At this rate, we will celebrate our 100 millionth traveler in two years.

The major French cities are served by Ouigo from city center to city center, with the exception of Lyon and Lille. Why ?

Precisely, from June 1, Ouigo arrives in downtown Lyon with three trips a day from Paris Gare de Lyon to Lyon-Part-Dieu and Lyon-Perrache. It is a real novelty. There was already a daily connection from Paris to Lyon-Perrache, but it was what we call in our jargon a technical train. Normally, this end of day train stops at Saint-Exupéry airport. But rather than circulating it empty to reach its Lyon maintenance center, we left the travelers.

Replacing Inoui TGVs, with more expensive tickets, with Ouigo TGVs, wouldn't that risk lowering your margins?

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Not at all. On other lines, it happened that we replaced TGV Inoui by TGV Ouigo. But in Paris - Lyon, this is not the case. The current Inoui remain and we add Ouigo. In total, there will therefore be 7,000 more places on the Paris-Lyon route. And thanks to Ouigo they will be at low prices.

But at times that are not very interesting?

No. There will be a Ouigo train in each direction, morning, noon and evening. From Paris, they leave at 6:26 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 6:35 p.m. And from Lyon at 9:17 a.m., 3:35 p.m. and 9:21 p.m. These first Paris-Lyon will be sold from March 10.

At what prices?

Like all two-hour trips to Ouigo, the first price will be 16 euros. Like a Paris-Strasbourg or a Paris-Bordeaux. The maximum will be 115 euros. You should know that more than half of Ouigo customers pay less than 25 euros on average.

What is the point of running a low-cost TGV on a very profitable line where traffic is already very dense?

Ouigo simultaneously meets demand from leisure customers, which remains strong on this route. But above all it allows to occupy the field before the likely arrival of competition.

Want to kill the competition?

The Italians of Trenitalia have, for example, clearly announced that they wish to position themselves in France, in particular on a part of Paris-Lyon. Today, Inoui and Ouigo are complementary. Tomorrow, we will use Inoui-Ouigo to fight back against the competition.

When Ouigo will link Lille to Paris from center to center?

It is the last high speed line without Ouigo. An hour's journey is not necessarily relevant for Ouigo. But nothing is written in stone.

Ouigo is profitable?

At the end of 2019, without the strike we would have been profitable for the first time. You should know that this social conflict cost the Ouigo activity 20 million euros on a turnover of 500 million euros. But we will be profitable at the end of 2020.

Users criticize Ouigo for not making the connections province to province…

It's wrong. We have connections Lille - Marseille, Tourcoing-Bordeaux ... The province to province lines represent a quarter of the Ouigo offer.

When will Ouigo travel abroad? For example between Paris and London?

One can imagine. SNCF is already reflecting on the subject with the Greenspeed project. But for now, I'm focused on France and the competition that is coming. We were awarded lots in Spain and we will be there with an offer in low-cost mode at the end of December 2020 in Madrid and Barcelona.

Source: leparis

All business articles on 2020-02-17

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