First departure

On the platform at Gare de Lyon, a tapered nose that travellers had only seen in photos, at the Alstom plant in Belfort. This Friday morning, the new-generation TGV takes its first passengers to Marseille: 320 km/h on two decks, the only train in the world to go that fast that way. It was meant to run for the 2024 Games; Covid, then three and a half years of testing up to the green light of May 2026, decided otherwise.

Three and a half years of tests

What changes is room: 573 seats on Paris-Marseille against 500, up to 700 in a single class, eight or nine carriages depending on the season, a bar on two levels, a wheelchair that boards without help. What also changes is the bill: 20% less energy, 30% less maintenance, and a battery to reach the nearest station when the overhead line snaps in a heatwave.

160 trainsets, five billion

The SNCF has ordered 160 of them for more than 5 billion euros, including 30 for Eurostar and 15 for Italy, where it will go hunting on Trenitalia’s ground, as Trenitalia already hunts on its own between Paris and Marseille. The trainsets will replace the fleet over about ten years. A week after the 69 deaths at Urda, in Spain, the first departure happens without speeches. In ten years, which of the two trains will you be sitting in?