FRANCE: This will be one of the most important years for the Italian national train operator’s French open access business, according to Trenitalia France CEO Marco Caposciutti.
From February 14, it will be able to double capacity on its busiest services by operating its Frecciarossa trainsets in pairs.
Paris – Milano services will resume on April 1, following the completion of work by infrastructure manager SNCF Réseau to repair significant damage caused by an August 2023 landslide at Maurienne which blocked the line. Sales & Marketing Director Fabrice Toledano estimates that the 19 months of disruption means that Trenitalia France has foregone at least 850 000 passenger journeys.
Two daily return services are planned, calling at Lyon Part-Dieu, Chambéry, St-Jean-de-Maurienne, Modane, Oulx, Torino and Milano with a journey time of 6½ to 7 h. Trenitalia is also running three services per day from Paris to Lyon Part-Dieu and Lyon-Perrache.
A major step will be taken on June 15 with the launch of four daily trains between Paris and Marseille, calling at Lyon St-Exupéry, Avignon-TGV and Aix-en-Provence-TGV with a journey time of 3 h 20 min. Toledano said Trenitalia France is aiming to offer a competitive journey time and serve wider areas along the route, hence it will stop at Lyon St-Exupéry station on the high speed line rather than the more central Lyon Part-Dieu. The company plans to recruit 50 more staff to support its increase in services.
Trenitalia France launched in December 2021 with five ETR1000 trainsets, and now has a fleet of nine which are maintaining by Trenitalia and Hitachi Rail at the Technincentre-Sud-Est-Européen in Paris and in Milano.
Presenting an overview of operations on January 24, Caposciutti said the fleet had now run 4·65 million-km and carried 3 million passengers, with a passenger satisfaction rate of 98%. The occupancy rate on the Paris – Milano route before the disruption was 85%, and 60% on Paris – Lyon.
