The end clap for the classic Ouigo train between Paris and Lyon rang out this Sunday, December 15. SNCF Voyageurs confirmed the end of this slow, low-cost connection, which was launched in 2022. The travel time between the two cities fluctuated between 4:45 and 5:15 hours, compared to 2 hours for a TGV.
And it seems that the formula has not found its audience: “After two years of experimentation, SNCF Voyageurs has in fact decided to put an end to the Ouigo classic train offer between Paris and Lyon since December 15. The trains will be deployed on Atlantic routes where demand is greater, in particular Paris-Rennes which has had a second round trip since yesterday (read Sunday, Editor's note), after a launch in April 2024 at a rate of one 1is round trip,” says SNCF Voyageurs, confirming information from BFM.
“This decision also comes in the context of important work carried out by SNCF Réseau which has limited the Ouigo classic train offer between Paris and Lyon since the summer of 2024 and which will continue throughout 2025.”
A reduced offer on weekends
Since spring, the Ouigo classic Paris-Lyon train offer was already reduced and limited to weekends. For SNCF Voyageurs, “the high-speed offer between Lyon and Paris remains substantial, with twenty round trips by TGV Inoui and Ouigo”. “As a reminder”, further specifies SNCF Voyageurs, “Ouigo classic train is operated in SLO (freely organized service), that is to say without any public subsidy”.
