Le Train

Le Train is a French private railway company; it is the first private high-speed operator in France to hold an operating licence.

The company was founded in 2020 with the ambition to operate the first private high-speed rail service in France. In December 2022, Le Train received its operating license, and in January 2023 signed a €300m contract with Spanish train manufacturer Talgo to deliver 10 Avril single-deck high-speed trains. It expects to commence services in the western portion of France in December 2025.

History
During April 2021, Le Train announced plans to run open-access TGV services by the end of 2022 using 10 TGV trains. The company did not specify where it would be sourcing TGV rolling stock from and, whilst SNCF was at the time withdrawing TGV Atlantique trains and had plans to withdraw TGV Réseau trains as well as several TGV Sud Est trains in storage awaiting scrappage, it was reported that SNCF had never sold TGV rolling stock on the second-hand market and had traditionally opted to scrap its withdrawn train sets instead. Services were planned to run from Arcachon to La Rochelle, with trains utilising the high-speed line between Bordeaux and Poltiers (the LGV Sud Europe Atlantique), and intermediate stops at Bordeaux, Angoulême, and Poitiers. Weekend services would extend to Nantes and Rennes.

After failing to secure second-hand TGV rolling stock, the company launched a Europe-wide competitive tender process to procure the sought rolling stock in early 2022. On 24 December 2022, Le Train received its operating licence (JORF no. 0298), making it the first private high-speed operator in France to hold a licence.

On 23 January 2023, Le Train announced it had signed a contract with the Spanish train manufacturer Talgo for an order of 10 high-speed trains based on the Talgo AVRIL platform, which once services commence would make it the second operator to operate the type after Spain's Renfe. This contract, valued at €300m, also covers 30 years of maintenance and spare parts as well as a joint R&D unit in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France. Le Train cited the AVRIL's level-floor accessibility, low-energy usage and dedicated spaces for bicycles and other equipment such as surfboards as factors in its decision to select Talgo as the winning bidder. Le Train also announced services would run on the high-speed LGV Sud Europe Atlantique between Bordeaux and Tours, as opposed to Bordeaux and Poltiers as initially planned. The company said it had managed to negotiate lower track access charges with Lisea, the private company which manages the line, achieving what is reportedly a significant advantage for Le Train. Saumur and Angers in the Loire Valley were announced as additional intermediate stops on services to Nantes and Rennes.

In September 2023, it was reported that Le Train had received an additional €8 million in funding from four investors: Crédit-Agricole Charente-Périgord Expansion, AQUITI Gestion, NACO and Tudigo X LE TRAIN.

Rolling stock
Under a contract believed to be worth around €300m, Le Train has 10 Talgo AVRIL trains on order from Spanish manufacturer Talgo, with options for additional trains over a 10-year period. Talgo was selected through an EU-wide tendering process in 2022 after the company failed to acquire second-hand TGV Atlantique trains from SNCF. Construction is expected to finish in early 2025, with construction beginning in the first half of 2023.