Train operator TGV Lyria is set to launch new fares to compete with low-cost airlines. Prices starting at CHF 34 will be offered on trips from Geneva to Paris. First class tickets at CHF 57 will be offered on the same journey. There will also be a fully-flexible first class business fare priced a bit above CHF 200.
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In addition, TGV Lyria, which is 74% owned by the French train company SNCF and 26% owned by Swiss Rail, plans to buy new trains in 2020. Andreas Bergmann, TGV Lyria’s boss, told the newspaper Le Temps that the new fleet will cost more than half a billion francs.
TGV Lyria runs trains between Paris and Geneva, Paris and Lausanne (with a link to trains to Neuchâtel), and Paris Basel and Zurich.
While taking the train might not always save you money, it will certainly help to save the planet. According to the European Environment Agency, train travel emits around one ninth (11%) of the CO2 per passenger kilometre as flying. Rail also beats road. Rail emissions are only 28% of road emissions per passenger kilometre1.
And, as Bergmann points out in the Le Temps interview, on a train you can be more productive.
Tickets at the new prices are on sale from 12 October 2017, for journeys starting on 10 December 2017.
More on this:
Le Temps article (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now
TGV Lyria website
1 In 2014, european air travel emitted 244 grams of CO2 per passenger kilometre. Road travel emited 102, and rail travel 28. Source: European environmental Agency.
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