Trenitalia challenges TGV’s high-speed monopoly in France

From Milan to Paris in less than 7 hours

This past weekend the Frecciarossa 1000 Italian high-speed train made its debut journey on French territory linking the cities of Milan and Paris. The train departed on Saturday, 18 December from platform 4 of Milan Central Station bringing on its board passengers and more options on the French high-speed train market which was until now only dominated by the well-known TGV brand.

A good ending to the European Year of the Rail

The Paris-Milan route will consist of two daily return trips (one in the morning, and another in the afternoon, departing respectively from each city) and it will take less than 7 hours to complete. It is advertised as offering cheaper tickets than the French high-speed company, which is great news for the consumers and just as good ones for the European Year of the Rail, whose mission was to promote train travel across the continent.

It will surely be easier to do it if more such trans-border connections from different companies are available. What’s more, Trenitalia (the Italian state railway company) promised that the high-speed connection will also extend towards Spain to reach Madrid and Barcelona in 2022. Connections to Austria and Germany have also been promised for the future.

"We have launched many promotional tickets for 20 euros to try the service. There are four classes of service just as in Italy with Standard, Premium, Business and Executive. The main advantage (compared to TGV) is the service on board where there is a little more Made in Italy for the French (with the signature dishes of Star Chef Carlo Cracco), we aim to pamper our passengers," explained Luigi Corradi, the CEO of Trenitalia, as quoted by Italian news agency ANSA.

The journeys run between Paris Gare de Lyon and Milano Centrale, via Lyon Part-Dieu, Chambéry, Modane and Turin. These will be expanded by another three daily round trips between Paris Gare de Lyon and Lyon Part-Dieu and Lyon Perrache. In total, Trenitalia will run 10 trips for almost 5,000 seats a day between Paris and Lyon.