SNCF is preparing to attack the Italian railway market

SNCF is preparing to attack the Italian railway market. This was revealed by “Le Parisien”, reporting a preview of the “Projet Allegro”: a plan on which the French public operator has been working for months, which from 2026 plans to make its entrance on two high-speed lines. In the carrier’s sights are the Turin-Milan-Rome-Naples and Turin-Venice lines. A total of 13.5 round trips per day, of which nine on the Milan-Rome route and four on the Turin-Venice route, to which two Paris-Milan connections will be added.

One way to respond to the competitor Trenitalia, which at the end of 2021 landed on the French rails with its Frecciarossa connecting Paris to Milan via Lyon. A confidential document states that the intent is to “limit” Trenitalia’s “investment capacity” by “effectively reducing its margin prospects on its domestic market”. In the past, SNCF was already present in the national railway network with a 20% stake in Italo-Ntv, abandoned in 2015.

The model that SNCF wants to import from the other side of the Alps is that of the Ouigo low cost TGV: extremely competitive prices, tickets sold mainly online, high frequency of trips and a popular offer. An aggressive strategy, which has nothing to do with premium offers and which will begin in three years to gradually increase by 2028.

On April 26, the project should be presented to the European Enterprise Committee (EEC), the internal body of the group responsible for the strategy of expansion abroad. But for now there is maximum confidentiality from the transalpine company. “At the moment no decision has been made and we have not confirmed any information”, reacted to the Parisian newspaper the SNCF Voyageurs, which recalled how the operator is already present in Italy “with the Paris-Milan connection and nothing has been decided beyond this” .

The SNCF thus continues its development plan abroad. The company has already established itself in Spain, where, after launching its Ouigos on the Madrid-Barcelona route in 2021, it has connected the Spanish capital to Valencia and for this year it also plans to open other routes towards Alicante and Seville.

A model similar to the one envisaged for Italy. In the Peninsula, the group can rely on the subsidiary SNCF Voyages Italia (SVI) which manages the border crossing of trains between Paris and Lyon and already has the single safety certificate necessary to operate. But at the moment there is not enough “rolling stock” to be able to “circulate on Italian itineraries”. For this reason, the SNCF is waiting for the 15 Tgv-Ms commissioned from Alstom last summer for 590 million euros. New generation trains, capable of carrying more people and circulating with different electrical voltages, thus adapting to the networks of different countries. Ideal for conquering new markets, such as the Italian one.