SNCF’s ultra-low-cost twisters launch on the Paris-Brussels route

This Thursday, the first passengers boarded Gare Nord in Paris at 8:56 a.m. towards Brussels. But they will not take the Eurostar (formerly Thalys) which makes the journey in 1h22. They chose Ouigo classic train, which will take 3h02 to reach the Belgian capital. The point of taking this dragging train with its firecracker pink color? Its prices are crushed (between 10 euros and 59 euros) when, in second class, a ticket on the Eurostar booked today to depart on December 28 at 7:08 a.m. costs at least 109 euros. And again, the prices of the classic Ouigo train are higher because it is an international train operated jointly by the SNCF and its Belgian alter ego, the SNCB.

In any case they become competitive against Flixbus. Taking a Paris-Brussels trip on December 28 in a Macron coach from the brand lasts at least four hours for a price of 27.99 euros. The same day, the best carpooling offer found on Blablacar is 23.29 euros for a journey estimated at 4 hours 40 minutes. On a Paris-Nantes which leaves today, December 19 at 12:58 p.m. from Austerlitz station to arrive in the city of Jules Verne or the rock group Christine & The Queen after 5 p.m., the ticket on a classic Ouigo train is at 45 euros. On a TGV Ouigo which leaves at almost 4 p.m. and arrives at its destination 2h02 later, the first price is 95 euros.

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No wi-fi or electrical outlets

The recipe for the classic Ouigo train to crush prices? “We have very low production costs,” underlines Alain Krakovitch, director of TGV-Intercités at SNCF Voyageurs. We use old Corail trains that have already been depreciated, the tolls paid to SNCF Réseau are lower because we do not run on TGV lines. And we have three agents when on Ouigo TGV there are four or five. To need less staff, the SNCF is clever: it created a private subsidiary called Oslo which operates Ouigo classic train. These employees are completely versatile when the usual agents of the SNCF, a public company, are specialized and only do a single task. On Ouigo classic train, the same person can check the condition of the brakes and start the train. On the TGV, Ouigo or Inoui, there are necessarily two different railway workers who carry out these tasks.

With this formula where there is no catering on board, Ouigo Classic Train is a commercial success. Since its launch in April 2022, these trains have transported three million passengers with a occupancy rate of 70%. All this with a very limited offer of destinations for the moment. three daily Paris-Brussels round trips daily, therefore, another three Paris-Nantes round trips each day and two Paris-Rennes round trips per day. And the Paris-Lyon that the SNCF operated until recent days? “We have just stopped it because there is work that will last four years on the route between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., in the north of Burgundy”details Alain Krakovitch.

Now there remains the question of profitability: as with the TGVs, the SNCF does not benefit from any subsidy to operate the classic Ouigo Train. “We are still in a phase of ramping up,” continues Alain Krakovitch. We will make money perhaps in 2025 and more certainly in 2026.” In the meantime, SNCF plans to expand its network. She is considering, for example, launching a Paris-Bordeaux on the same principle. We would still have to find old Corail oars. But the offer is very rare.

Too bad, because Ouigo classic train has another interest. With this offer, the former railway monopoly pre-empts a market segment which could have been occupied by other players. When rail competition opened in France in 2019, Flixbus, which also has a very developed train activity in Germany, had considered launching a non-TGV train offer in France. The German group finally gave up, finding French rail tolls too expensive for its economic model.