SNCF wishes to launch a new reduced-price train offer from spring 2022. The new “Ouigo Vitesse Classique” service will offer long-distance links at reduced speeds compared to TGVs. Review of details.
Concretely, two routes will be created: Paris-Lyon, via Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, Melun, Dijon, Chalon-sur-Saône, and Mâcon, for a journey time of between 4:45 and 5:15 am, against around two hours for a TGV Ouigo classic; a Paris-Nantes link via Juvisy, Massy-Palaiseau, Versailles, Chartres, Le Mans and Angers, or else by Juvisy, Les Aubrais, Blois, Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, Saumur and Angers, in 3h30 to 4:15 from journey (against around 2h30 by TGV).
These new Ouigo will be at reduced prices – between 10 and 30 euros – but above all fixed according to the period. Only one class will be available on board the trains, and all the services usually offered by Ouigo will be retained: reserved seat, cabin baggage, shared power outlets, and catering offer. Bookable up to 45 days before departure, tickets will be on sale only on the internet.
To differentiate them from the TGV Ouigo, blue, SNCF intends to rehabilitate the cars of the Corail trains and repaint them in pink to transform them into Ouigo Vitesse Classique.
And above all, you are going to see new pink trains arriving at the station from 2022. Trains that will run at standard speed on 14 destinations… pic.twitter.com/bOdsrcugwx
– OUIGO (@OUIGO) September 23, 2021
“This offer will target in particular the French who cannot anticipate their trip or who wish to travel by taking their time,” SNCF said in a press release. According to Alain Krakovitch, director of Voyages SNCF, the ambition is to sell 65% of tickets for less than 20 euros. “Our objective is really to take market share from the road,” explained Christophe Fanichet, CEO of SNCF Voyageurs, either competing with companies like FlixBus, Blablacar, or simply individual cars.