New step in opening up rail to competition in France: the Transport Regulatory Authority gave the green light Thursday to the Railcoop cooperative to operate six rail lines, including Strasbourg-Clermont-Ferrand and Grenoble-Thionville.
After economic balance tests requested by the Burgundy and Normandy regions, the Authority published a “right of access to rail infrastructure” for this small cooperative which intends in particular to relaunch the Bordeaux-Lyon transverse line at the end of 2022.
What are the authorized connections?
Besides Strasbourg-Clermont-Ferrand and Grenoble-Thionville, the authorized connections are Saint-Etienne-Thionville, Lille-Nantes, Massy-Brest and Le Croisic-Bâle, all announced for December 11, 2022. The proposed offer by Railcoop foresees by example two daily round trips between Lille-Flandres and Nantes, with stops in Amiens, Rouen, Caen and Saint-Lô, in particular, and a total journey time of more than 9 hours.
Between Strasbourg and Clermont-Ferrand, Railcoop would offer two daily round trips with stops in Mulhouse, Besançon, Dijon-ville, Nevers or even Vichy, and a journey time of just under 8 hours.
The Authority has also given the green light to SNCF Voyageurs to relaunch three daily round trips at “classic speed”, in Corail trains, between Lyon-Perrache and Paris-Bercy or Paris-Austerlitz, with stops in Mâcon, Dijon or Melun, in particular, and an estimated journey time of 5:30.
The Italian company Trenitalia launched its trains on the same Paris-Lyon line in mid-December, facing the SNCF TGVs.
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