On the morning of Thursday July 13, on a station platform in Barcelona (Spain), the train is an event. For the first time, the operator Renfe unite Spain with France. The train left Thursday morning at 8:22in the direction of Lyon (Rhône). The five-hour journey passes through the cities of Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales), Montpellier (Hérault) and Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône). The main advantage of this new operator is the price. A Spaniard says she paid around 50 euros for a round trip.
Soon a link to Paris?
43,000 tickets have been sold by the operator since the announcement of this new link. And the boss of the company hopes for even more, with new destinations soon. “Our goal is to internationalize Renfeto enter France and connect Paris. We want to do it as soon as possible, maybe in 2024. It would be a great goal for the Olympics.”said Raul Blanco, president of Renfe. In the meantime, the Spanish company will continue its offensive on French rail, offering a direct Madrid (Spain) – Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône) from July 28.