A 5 euro train ticket for Paris Lille and from 3 euros to travel 100 km at high speed.
This is the promise of the young railway company Kevin Speed, founded by a former RATP and Eurotunnel employee, who intends to develop a high-speed RER from metropolis to metropolis.
This start-up announced this Friday the signing of a framework agreement with SNCF Réseau to run low-cost trains between Paris, Lille, Lyon and Strasbourg from 2028. Kevin Speed “commits to buying” 20 high-speed trains to the manufacturer Alstom, according to a press release, which should be delivered by 2028, the start date of marketing its offers.
Trials scheduled to begin in 2026.
“Our trains will be full”
“The more we travel, the less we pay,” asserted the president of the start-up, Laurent Fourtune, promising an offer with a price reduction as the customer purchases tickets.
“With the attack prices that we have planned, our trains will be full,” he added.
The main offer called “Illisto” starts at three euros per 100 km off-peak for trains to Strasbourg and Lille, and from five euros per 100 km off-peak for those leaving for Lyon.
Kevin Speed promises 16 daily passages, every hour, from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., in both directions.
In addition, the trains would make stops “at all the small stations” on the line.
“They will be one to two minutes, compared to triple for a classic TGV,” underlines Laurent Fourtune.
We will also have trains with more doors to make it easier for passengers to enter and exit.
It’s all about ease and speed.”
The objective is, according to Kevin Speed, to respond to the departures of a certain number of workers far from metropolises after the health crisis and successive confinements, wishing to live in a calmer and more serene environment.
“There is no affordable and effective rail offer for them: an annual TGV subscription costs several thousand euros,” underlines the company.
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Kevin Speed has estimated the investments necessary for the purchase of trains, future workshops and training of train drivers at one billion euros, according to Laurent Fourtune, who hopes to complete the fundraising by this summer.
After Trenitalia on the Paris-Lyon line and soon Renfe, the arrival of Kevin Speed, the SNCF will have to react.