France and Switzerland extend agreement on cross-border high-speed transport

SNCF Voyageurs, the long-distance passenger transport operator of the French National Railway Society (SNCF) and the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) have extended their cooperation agreement until 2027 aimed at developing rail transport in France and Switzerland. It is reported by Railway Supply magazine with reference to zdmira.

According to the contract, each company is responsible for transportation in its own country. The cooperation is implemented in the form of a joint venture Lyria, in which SNCF Voyageurs owns a 74% share, SBB – 26%. The JV is responsible for the optimization of transportation activities, administration and quality control of the services provided on the trains.

India to build first rail link to Bhutan

High-speed trains TGV Lyria operate 17 daily trips on three routes: Geneva-Paris, Lausanne-Paris and Zurich-Basel-Paris. In the summer months, a daily trips from Geneva to Marseille is added to them. In 2022, despite the COVID-19 restrictions, TGV Lyria trains carried nearly 5 million passengers in the first quarter, in line with 2019 levels.

The fare on the TGV Lyria trains is from 29 Swiss francs, the travel time is from 3 hours 11 minutes between Geneva and Paris to 4 hours 4 minutes between Zurich and Paris. The routes are served by 15 double-decker TGV Duplex trains, each with a capacity of 507 passengers.

Railway news you might have missed:

Europe’s first three-mode train Blues began to serve passengers