TGV will have competition for the first time from tomorrow. Italian high-speed trains are starting to run in France

Italian state railways Trenitalia will start operating a new high-speed connection between Milan and Paris tomorrow. The long-awaited new line will have a big premiere in France: for the first time, the SNCF state railways, with their TGV and Ouigo high-speed trains, will be exposed to competition in their territory in commercial traffic. So far, only high-speed trains of foreign carriers travel to France in cooperation with the state railways.

Trenitalia announced the start of a new route more than two years ago, and only this week it started selling tickets. It will run twice a day between Milan and Paris, the cheapest tickets are 29 euros. The journey takes less than seven hours through Turin. From Milan the trains will leave at 6:25 and 15:53 ​​arriving in Paris at 13:22 and 22:25, in the opposite direction at 7:26 and 15:18 from Paris arriving in Milan at 14:07 and 22:07 . Gradually, a third pair of connections will be added.

The Italian carrier will deploy high-speed Frecciarossa ETR 1000 units on the track in an arrangement with three different travel classes.

The TGV also runs on the route, but it has a slightly longer travel time due to the fact that the units are not certified for operation on high-speed lines in Italy. They have to go on a conventional track.

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