Since this Sunday, it is no longer possible to take this slow train at reduced prices. The trains will be redeployed on the Atlantic routes.
It was not a success. SNCF Voyageurs has in fact decided to quite discreetly end its connection between Paris and Lyon using the classic Ouigo Train.
Remember that this ultra low cost alternative to the TGV Inoui and TGV Ouigo offers a low and fixed price (from 10 to 49 euros per journey or even 5 euros for those under 12 years old) in return for longer journey times in Corail trains from 1980s which have been cleaned but not modernized.
Launched in April 2022, this offer initially offered two daily round trips for a journey time of between 4h45 and 5h15 compared to 2 hours by TGV.
“After two years of experimentation, SNCF Voyageurs has decided to end the Ouigo Train Classique offer between Paris and Lyon since December 15,” the operator confirms.
Slow and cheap Ouigos – 12/04
3.5 million customers in two years
SNCF Voyageurs does not specify the reasons for this decision. We can imagine that the trains were insufficiently filled, in particular because of competition from Ouigo TGV or Trenitalia.
“The Ouigo Train Classique trainsets will be deployed on Atlantic routes where demand is greater, in particular between Paris and Rennes, which has had a second round trip since Sunday,” continues a spokesperson.
“This decision also comes in a context of important work carried out by SNCF Réseau which limits the Ouigo Train Classique offer between Paris and Lyon since the summer of 2024 and which will continue throughout the year 2025”, adds- he.
“Since spring, the Ouigo Train Classique Paris-Lyon offer was already reduced and essentially limited to weekends.”
Despite this failure, the classic Ouigo Train positioning seems to work with 3.5 million travelers in two years. And it is Paris-Nantes and Paris-Rennes which are the most popular routes to the point that the second destination has recently been reinforced.
Let us also remember that a connection to Brussels has just been launched in partnership with SNCB, the Belgian railways.
Olivier Chicheportiche Journalist BFM Business
