High-speed trains: Trenitalia launches its red arrows from Paris to the Mediterranean

With its 16 engines, the Frecciarossa is capable of traveling at 300 km/h, reached in four minutes. Trenitalia

Three years after its arrival in France, in December 2021, and after three million passengers transported, the Italian company adds Paris – Marseille, to its Paris – Milan and Paris – Lyon routes. Kick-off on June 15.

The first foreign operator to benefit from the liberalization of high-speed rail on French soil, on a cold December morning in 2021, at Gare de Lyon, Trenitalia is pushing its fires a little further… even though electricity has long since replaced steam. From June 15, the Italian railway company will launch its Frecciarossa from Paris to Gare Saint-Charles in Marseille, competing on this major commercial route with SNCF and ahead of the Spanish Renfe.

Four round trips per day

On Tuesday morning in Paris, the transalpine carrier took stock of these first three years and announced both this new line and the upcoming relaunch of traffic between the French capital and Milan. In three years, at 300 km/h, the “red arrows” have transported “nearly three million customers, over more than four million kilometers traveled”, the president of Trenitalia France, Marco Caposciutti, was pleased to say. Growth of around 40% per year, with “97% punctuality”, and a clientele for 50% business.

Trenitalia prides itself on good indicators. 98% of customers satisfied with the service offered, 97% of passengers who indicate that they want to take its high-speed trains again, the same percentage sharing their satisfaction with the quality-price ratio. With an “extremely simple pricing policy”, claims the sales director, Fabrice Toledano, and “flexible. All tickets are modifiable”. Success is there, “our choices were the right ones”, observes Marco Caposciutti.

Growing to find profitability

Trenitalia is not yet making money on its French services. Particularly handicapped by the major landslide that occurred in the Maurienne valley on August 27, 2023, which cut the rail link between France and Italy. Its Paris – Lyon – Milan were then 80% full (50% on Paris – Lyon), the blow was harsh. For its president, regarding “financial equilibrium, it is very difficult today to project in which year we will reach it”, but “to support growth, several new measures are necessary”.

This line will connect the three largest cities in France. We expect to double our customers

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The first and main one is the service to Marseille, starting June 15, with four round trips per day, a journey of about 3 hours 20 minutes. Five to nine Frecciarossa trains will be assigned to it, 50 hires made. “This is a very important step in the development of Trenitalia in France, emphasizes its boss. This line will connect the three largest cities in France. We expect to double our customers.” The second new feature is commercial – a sponsorship system that offers discounts on ticket prices of up to 10% –, the third is technical, the approval for the circulation of multiple trains (in pairs, essentially), on days of high demand.

Between Paris and Marseille, the company will serve the stations of Lyon, Avignon and Aix-en-Provence. Trenitalia

Other projects in the pipeline

At the same time, the company recorded some good news on Tuesday morning. At 9:33 a.m., ticket sales on its Paris – Milan route were restarted and traffic will resume on April 1, 2025, nineteen months after the Maurienne accident. “The work has been very difficult, but we are ready”, with trains that will stop at Chambéry, Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and Modane, in France, and Oulx and Turin, in Italy. Serving ski resorts is at the heart of these choices.

On the other hand, Trenitalia remains discreet about its future projects, hiding behind a “very difficult rail market” and its desire “to go step by step”. Fabrice Toledano just confesses that the carrier “has started studies on different connections”. On several occasions, the Italian has been credited with the intention of connecting Paris to Amsterdam and Berlin – something that the SNCF-Deutschbahn alliance has recently done. More recently, it has been considered a Nice – Milan connection via Genoa.

As for the Languedoc-Roussillon side, between Lyon, Marseille and Barcelona, ​​Spain where it also runs ? “In 2025, there will be no other destination”, insists Marco Caposciutti.

Where is Renfe at? ?

The’Marseille – Lyon – Paris axis is the major development project of the Iberian company Renfe, in France, which arrived in France seven months after its transalpine counterpart. For months, it has been struggling with the approval procedure for the new train it needs, the Talgo S-106, to put this line into service.

Contacted Tuesday morning, following Trenitalia's announcements, Renfe did not respond. Languedoc-Roussillon is interested in the subject, since extending the company's current services from Barcelona to Paris would offer a high-speed alternative to the SNCF. Competition and therefore a potential drop in prices.

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