The end of an era. After 34 years of use, the blue and metallic TGV of the SNCF will disappear this month of May in favor of a new generation of colors, announced Friday the specialized magazine Ville Rail & Transports.
This historic livery followed the first range of TGVs, the TGV Paris Sud-Est, recognizable for their bright orange color, launched in 1981 and operating between Paris and Lyon.
They were then replaced in the 1990s by the famous blue and metal grey TGVs, the TGV Atlantique, inaugurated when the Atlantic high-speed line opened to the west of the France. These high-speed trains, capable of reaching 300 km/h, have also been used on lines in the North or in the east of the France.
Incremental renovations
They have traveled "more than 30,000 times around the Earth", welcomed the SNCF in 2021, in a press release presenting the renovation of these trains. In total, 37 million euros have been invested to renovate more than 28 trains, which will now offer Wi-Fi on board.
" READ ALSO SNCF: ten after its launch, OUIGO wants to double its number of passengers by 2030
"To refurbish these TGVs, we recover parts from old trains and recondition a large number of components," said the company. The work is carried out in workshops in Rennes, Ille-et-Vilaine, and Bischheim, Bas-Rhin.
The TGV renovations, already underway, will affect the last existing blue and gray train in mid-May, says Ville Rail & Transports. Now, the new TGVs display new colour ranges, such as white and purple for the inOui lines, or light blue and pink for Ouigo trains.
