Low-cost, high-speed IDTGV is to close
SNCF says that passengers were confused with what its different TGV services offered
The high-speed, low-cost IDTGV service is to stop by the end of this year as SNCF says it was confusing for passengers alongside the ‘classic’ TGV and modern budget Ouigo services.
With fares from as low as €19 single from Paris to about 50 coastal and mountain destinations in the south-east and south-west of France it was much-used by students and older travellers, especially as first-class travel was not significantly more expensive.
SNCF says however that IDTGV-style pricing will still be available on its classic TGV services while Ouigo has been built on the low-cost ‘Ryanair’ model based on Marne-la-Vallée station, outside Paris.
The IDTGV service will close in two stages with the south-west line closing from July 2 along with the opening of TGV lines to Brittany and the south-west and the south-east service being ended on December 10.
Trains will be transferred to the TGV service and 70 staff will be redeployed within the company, with no forced job losses.
SNCF finance director Antoine de Rocquigny said customers would notice no difference, except that the train is no longer branded IDTGV, telling Le Parisien: “The number of trains, the frequency, the cheap prices will all be transferred to TGV.”
Running since 2004, the IDTGV ran about 30 trains a day of the 750 TGVs a day and the service proved a testing ground for many SNCF ideas.
Internet-only booking, tickets checked on the platform rather than the train, ‘calm’ and ‘buzzing’ carriages and by offering unlimited travel for young people and an unlimited IDTGV travel card.
Travellers wishing to enjoy a last spin can get €19 fares from Bordeaux to Paris from April, €24 from Aix-en-Province to Paris in May or €29.90 from Montpellier.
