Alstom to invest €150m to increase high speed train production capacity

FRANCE: Alstom announced on April 4 an ‘unprecedented’ plan to invest more than €150m to increase production capacity to meet the French and international demand for its Avelia very high speed trainsets and deliver on its ongoing commitments. The plans cover works at Valenciennes, La Rochelle and Belfort, along with component manufacturing sites at Petit Quevilly, Ornans, Tarbes and Le Creusot.

The company has orders to supply Avelia Horizon trains to SNCF Voyageurs, which brands them TGV M, as well as to Morocco’s national railway ONCF and to French open access start-up Proxima.

Incentive scheme aims to increase international trains on HS1

EUROPE: High Speed 1 concessionaire London St Pancras Highspeed has announced a International Growth Incentive Scheme designed to encourage new and existing train operators to introduce services and increase passenger volumes on the route between London and the Channel Tunnel.

A New Services Incentive will offer a discount on the Investment Recovery Charge which operators pay to use the line, whilst a Passenger Incentive will offer a £1 rebate for every additional passenger carried above previous levels.

London St Pancras Highspeed said the line from London to the Channel Tunnel currently operates at 50% capacity.

SNCF Voyageurs CEO sets out Italian strategy

ITALY: The launch of domestic high speed rail services within Italy will support plans for French national passenger operator SNCF Voyageurs to grow foreign activities from 22% of its business in 2024 to 30% in 2030, CEO Christophe Fanichet said at the restart of Paris – Milano services.

SNCF Voyageurs Italia has applied to Italian infrastructure manager RFI to run three sets of trains: two daily Paris – Milano return trips (a reduction of one from the present schedule as new TGV M will offer higher capacity), as well as four Torino – Venezia and nine Torino – Napoli return trips.

All of these stories and more can be found at Railway Gazette’s high speed rail news hub.