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SNCF keeps now under the same dome the bus & low-cost rail services with the same “OUI” umbrella, distinguishing the bus service (Ouibus) of the TGV service (Ouigo).
OUIGO
OUIGO is a subsidiary of the French national rail company SNCF set up in April 2013 , but it is independently run from its parent company. The current Ouigo station in Paris is the TGV station at Marne-la-Vallée to the east of the city (just near Disneyland Paris). The first idea was to create a "low-cost" light-blue and pink TGV for answer to low-cost airlines with trains linking the outskirts of Paris to the south of France, namely the cities of Lyon, Marseille and Montpellier. Ouigo has four dedicated Dasye TGV Duplex two-level, and sections of the first generation built Duplex order to carry 20% more passengers compared to a traditional service of a TGV train Duplex. The top speed is the same that all TGV in France. As with the budget airlines, space will be tighter – there are no first class section, nor any café or bar. A single unit can hold 634 passengers, against 509 passengers for a standard Duplex TGV. The big innovation is the exploitation of the train sets, which run for twelve hours a day against seven, and which are kept overnight in technicentre SNCF Lyon or Marseille.
OUIGO
OUIGO is a subsidiary of the French national rail company SNCF set up in April 2013 , but it is independently run from its parent company. The current Ouigo station in Paris is the TGV station at Marne-la-Vallée to the east of the city (just near Disneyland Paris). The first idea was to create a "low-cost" light-blue and pink TGV for answer to low-cost airlines with trains linking the outskirts of Paris to the south of France, namely the cities of Lyon, Marseille and Montpellier. Ouigo has four dedicated Dasye TGV Duplex two-level, and sections of the first generation built Duplex order to carry 20% more passengers compared to a traditional service of a TGV train Duplex. The top speed is the same that all TGV in France. As with the budget airlines, space will be tighter – there are no first class section, nor any café or bar. A single unit can hold 634 passengers, against 509 passengers for a standard Duplex TGV. The big innovation is the exploitation of the train sets, which run for twelve hours a day against seven, and which are kept overnight in technicentre SNCF Lyon or Marseille.
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| Two trainsets Duplex for this service to Marne-La-Vallée, departing here from Lyon st Exupéry (photo by Maarten Otto via flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) |
It seems that the Ouigo concept should become in
the future the new high speed line service designed to win back customers
increasingly hesitant to travel by TGV, because prices are too expensive for
many customers. The network will expand now toward the Atlantique face of
France, where the blue-pink TGV will link cities of Nantes, Rennes, Le Mans and
Angers, as well as cities in the north of France such as Tourcoing, and the TGV
station Haute-Picardie near Amiens. From 2016 the trains will also serve
Charles-de-Gaulle airport and Massy TGV station to the south of Paris.
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| The network expands.... |
OUIBUS (ex IDBus)
iDBUS
was a subsidiary of French state railways SNCF which has operated coach
services in Europe since 23 July 2012. iDBUS had to offer a new model of high
quality coach travel, operating long distance journeys departing from London to
Paris as well as from Paris and Lille to Northern Europe. Tickets can be purchased on the easy-to-use
website as well as by telephone. A domestic service between Paris and Lille was
launched on 29 August 2012. Various destinations have been added over the
years, such as Amsterdam and Cologne. The subsidiary has purchased 46 buses to the manufacturers Irisbus and Setra, for 26 Setra S 416 GT-HD / 2 Comfort Class, 20 Irisbus Magelys Pro, and also buses Irizar i6 (picture below). The vehicles that meet the Euro 5 emission standard, are equipped with Wi-Fi and power outlets and have facilities for disables.
Ironically on the London-Paris run SNCF competes against Eurostar... yet SNCF is Eurostar’s majority shareholder. Since the arrival of the law "Macron" on 9 July 2015, which liberalized the bus services in France, the bus subsidiary of SNCF has got a facelift in september 2015 by rebranding under the name OUIBUS. SNCF maintains its low-cost train and bus services under the same brand and the same logo.
Ironically on the London-Paris run SNCF competes against Eurostar... yet SNCF is Eurostar’s majority shareholder. Since the arrival of the law "Macron" on 9 July 2015, which liberalized the bus services in France, the bus subsidiary of SNCF has got a facelift in september 2015 by rebranding under the name OUIBUS. SNCF maintains its low-cost train and bus services under the same brand and the same logo.
