France high-speed rival to open Paris-Bordeaux route

The first French passenger train to challenge SNCF on the country’s high-speed rail network was unveiled in late April in La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime).

Painted racing green and lilac – the company colours of its operator Velvet – it is the first of 12 trains that are due to serve Bordeaux, Angers, Nantes, and Rennes from Paris, starting in 2028.

Velvet was set up in 2022 by a former director of SNCF, Rachel Picard, and the former manager of RATP’s UK activities, Timothy Jackson.

They raised €1billion in 2024, mainly from infrastructure investment fund Antin, to finance the initiative.

The trains are being made by Alstom, which issued a profit warning in April despite full order books.

It said supply problems meant it could not build trains as fast as anticipated, although it promised that the Velvet trains would not be delayed.

The train on display did not yet have its interior fitted, and it will take until the end of 2027 to complete and test it.

Ms Picard said the company was not planning to challenge SNCF on price, but aimed to absorb demand from passengers who could not find seats on SNCF trains.

SNCF currently runs trains between Bordeaux and Paris roughly every half an hour at peak times and every hour at off-peak times.

The trains are frequently full, with seat reservations often closing days before travel.

Demand for rail services on this route increased following a ban on internal passenger flights in France between destinations less than two hours and 30 minutes apart by train. Previously, Air France ran regular flights between Bordeaux and Paris.

No plans to stop at Angoulême

However, Velvet confirmed to The Connexion that the service will not stop at Poitiers (Vienne) or Angoulême (Charente) en route - a fact that is likely to cause a political storm.

Residents of both departments have seen local taxes rise to pay for construction of the high-speed line, after the government promised that trains would stop there.

“I find it absolutely scandalous that Velvet is not stopping at Angoulême,” the president of Charente department, Jérôme Sourisseau, said.

“The department paid several tens of millions of euros towards the TGV line in return for assurances that the station at Angoulême would have a service, and for this to be forgotten is just not on.”

SNCF usually runs 17 services a day from Angoulême to Paris, both direct and involving changes.

The fastest direct services take a little under two hours, with prices for one-way second class seats varying between €70 and €197.

“Apart from anything else, the decision not to stop at Angloulême shows that they have not done their homework,” said Mr Sourisseau.

“It is a dynamic station with lots of travellers going both to Paris and other stops along the line, and to Bordeaux.”

Complaints to the transport ministry have not yet had a response, but Mr Sourisseau said he will tackle the minister about it when he visits Charente.

The line was the first in France to be built using a public-private partnership instead of being financed by the state.

Growing rail competition

Velvet may face direct competition in 2028 from another rail start-up called Le Train. This was set up by two Charente businessmen, who initially vowed to start operations, also in western France, by 2026.

The company has since had to postpone these plans after French railway authorities refused to certify its high-speed trains, which are made in Spain, citing safety concerns.

The same concerns have curbed the expansion of the Spanish state railway Renfe into France. It presently runs services from Catalonia to Marseille and Lyon, but has delayed further expansion until the problems with train certification are resolved.

Le Train said it would provide links between French provincial cities, with lines between Bordeaux and Nantes via Angoulême, for example.

Other challengers to SNCF and its Eurostar subsidiary include the Italian operator Trenitalia, which runs between Paris, Lyon and Marseille, as well as a Paris-Turin route.

The UK company Virgin Trains is in the process of ordering new trains so that it can run services through the Channel Tunnel from 2030. The trains would be in direct competition with Eurostar.