SNCF sets out to conquer Spain.
The French rail operator announced on Tuesday September 22 the launch of a Barcelona-Madrid line from March 15, 2021 under its Ouigo brand.
To begin with, five daily round trips will be provided with intermediate stops in Zaragoza and Tarragona.
Alstom two-level trainsets, identical to those operating in France, will have a bar (Ouibar) and will be able to accommodate 509 passengers.
To attract Spanish travelers, the low-cost subsidiary of SNCF promises "low prices" but has not yet communicated on minimum prices.
“
On average, our prices will be 50% below current prices,
” said Hélène Valenzuela, director of Ouigo Spain.
"
It is not a question of copying and pasting the French offer, but of taking the best of what we know how to do to respond to what Spanish travelers have told us to expect,
" added the general manager of SNCF travel, Alain Krakovitch.
To celebrate its arrival in the Iberian Peninsula, Ouigo will offer tickets at 1 € to the first 10,000 travelers who will register on the Ouigo.com page from September 24 at 6 p.m.
Ultimately, the operator will serve other Spanish cities, namely Valencia and Alicante “
end of 2021-beginning of 2022
”, and Cordoba, Seville and Malaga in 2023.
Ouigo will not cross the border
Ouigo's French and Spanish networks will operate independently, since trains are not expected to cross the border.
It will not be possible to directly connect France to Spain with the low-cost subsidiary, as is the case today with the inOui TGVs operated jointly by SNCF and Renfe (Paris-Barcelona and Marseille-Madrid lines ).
By launching itself on the Spanish market, the SNCF wishes to roll on the flowerbeds of Avlo, the low-cost subsidiary by Renfe whose launch planned for last March is postponed indefinitely due to the health crisis.
Avlo, which will also run between Barcelona and Madrid, will offer a price range of € 10 to € 50, with a fixed price of € 5 for children.
By comparison, the same trip on a classic AVE (the Spanish TGV) costs between 60 and 110 €.
Finally, a third competitor should invest the Spanish high-speed lines from 2022: Ilsa, a joint subsidiary of the Italian rail carrier Trenitalia and the Spanish airline Air Nostrum.
Enough to make us prefer the train.
