Spanish train company Renfe is coming to France with cheap tickets! Here are the routes concerned and the first prices announced.
Spanish trains will make their entry into the French railway landscape from Thursday July 13, 2023, and competition with the SNCF promises to be tough according to the advertised prices. The Spanish railway company Renfe announces cut prices on several routes from 2023. Renfe has thus unveiled routes in the south of France, for example to Montpellier, Perpignan or Aix-en-Provence.
And that could only be the start. Renfe intends to compete with the SNCF, planning its first round trips on the very strategic Paris-Lyon line from spring 2024, already operated by the Italian operator Trenitalia which offers a Paris-Lyon-Milan link. “Renfe’s short-term objective is to become a reference operator in the French rail market and to obtain the safety certificate which will allow it to extend its operations to other lines, such as Paris-Lyon”, explains the group in a press release.
For its debut in the summer of 2023, the Spanish carrier has announced a one-way ticket from 9 euros for journeys between the French stations of Perpignan, Narbonne, Béziers, Montpellier, Nîmes, Avignon and Aix-en-Provence. Compared to SNCF, a Lyon-Marseille trip costs 68 euros and a Narbonne-Marseille trip costs 42 euros! The Spanish railway company should start with 6 round trips per week on each line, then two daily connections in the medium term.
In addition, the prices for trips to Spain will also be very attractive. From Lyon or Marseille, tickets will cost 29 euros to reach Barcelona, ??Madrid, Girona, Tarragona, Zaragoza or Figueres. From towns closer to the border like Montpellier or Narbonne, those same Spanish destinations will cost 10 euros less, or 19 euros. However, these call prices will be temporary. “It won’t last, but in the medium to long term, it still allows you to have prices that will be about half the price in the future”, explains Alice Rayon, marketing manager of the comparative site Kombo, interviewed by TF1.
