A new competitor to SNCF is arriving, good news for your wallet?

SNCF 's main competitor continues to expand its presence on French soil. Since Sunday, June 15, if you want to travel by train between Paris and Marseille , a new option is available to you: the Frecciarossa, or "red arrow" in French, the high-speed train of the Italian company Trenitalia.

SNCF Voyageurs ' main competitor since the liberalization of high-speed lines in France at the end of 2020, the Italian company will offer four daily round trips between the French capital and Marseille. The trains will stop at Lyon-Saint-Exupéry, Avignon-TGV, Aix-en-Provence-TGV, and Marseille Saint-Charles stations. "For our strategic positioning, the southern axis of France is very important," explained Trenitalia France CEO Marco Caposciutti during a press conference in early June.

Following the launch at the end of 2021 of the connection between Paris, Lyon, Turin and Milan, this is the second French service launched by the Italian company.

Good news for users' wallets?

The goal is to fill the trains between Paris and Marseille to 50%-60% capacity, or one million passengers , in the first year. In addition to this opening, Trenitalia plans to add a sixth daily return trip between Paris and Lyon starting Sunday. The Frecciarossa trains, recognizable by their red livery, are finally providing a twice-daily service between Paris and Milan. Tickets for the Paris-Marseille journey have gone on sale from 27 euros, slightly above the starting price offered by SNCF Voyageurs on the TGV Inoui (25 euros).

Prices vary , however: a Paris-Marseille ticket on Friday, July 25, costs a minimum of €61.90 (with most tickets costing over €100) on a TGV Ouigo, compared to €49 on Trenitalia (and no train costs more than €100), Agence France-Presse noted.

With Ouigo , SNCF Voyageurs offers Paris-Marseille services from 16 euros. Trenitalia, like all new operators launching a service in France, benefits from rail toll discounts for the first three years, offered by the operator SNCF Réseau. Apart from Trenitalia, the Spanish company Renfe is the other major European company to have attempted to conquer the French market thanks to two routes opening in 2023: Madrid-Marseille and Barcelona-Lyon.

Is this really good news for users in the long term? "Only users of this line will benefit. Other lines, on which there is no competition, will not see their prices drop. On the contrary, their prices could increase, because the SNCF, which will earn less money on the line affected by the competition, will be forced to compensate elsewhere," explained François Deletraz, president of the National Federation of Transport Associations (FNAUT), on RMC.

"What's likely to happen in the coming months is what we've already seen on other routes, such as Paris-Nice or Paris-Toulouse with EasyJet and Air France. At first, there was a price war, but today, the fares are practically the same. Tests have been conducted. Eventually, we can expect the same thing in the rail sector: Trenitalia will cost as much as the TGV," continues François Deletraz.