VIDEO. In the red armchairs of “Additional investigation”: Fabrice Toledano, marketing director of Trenitalia France

This text corresponds to part of the transcription of the interview above. Click on the video to watch it in full.

Tristan Waleckx: We’re back at Gare de Lyon, where the SNCF trains depart, but also those of a new addition, Trenitalia, of which you are number 2. Fabrice Toledano, good evening. Trenitalia are these red trains that we see just behind us. You have launched three lines: Paris-Lyon, Paris-Marseille, Paris-Milan. Ultimately, will you be present throughout France?

Fabrice Toledano: You are right, we started at the end of 2021, and it turns out that we have further developed the offer in 2025, since we opened a line between Paris and Marseille with 4 round trips per day. And in December 2025, we intensified the Paris-Lyon line, since we now operate 14 round trips per day during the week between Paris and Lyon. We have already announced, in fact, a project for the end of 2029-beginning of 2030, to connect Paris and London. For that, obviously, we launched a new train order.

We see that there is a new train leaving from Gare de Lyon. Ultimately, how many Trenitalia trains will there be per day?

We plan to add 10 round trips per day between Paris and London at the end of 2029. We have placed an order for new trains. We also launched the construction of a maintenance workshop near Paris, precisely to be able to be autonomous in the maintenance of our trains.

You put forward prices that are cheaper. We looked on your website for the month of May. You know that there are going to be many long weekends this month… If you want to leave the day before May 1st from Paris to Marseille, for example, to get the best Trenitalia rate, you have to wake up early, at 6 a.m., for 72 euros. And we looked on the SNCF website, at the same time, we found the same train for 45 euros. We looked for the following week, another public holiday, the day before Friday May 8. The best price is still 72 euros for Trenitalia, compared to 59 euros for SNCF, officially supposed to be the most expensive company. How is it done?

Prices, in fact, are obviously linked to the filling of our trains, so the more the trains are filled, the more obviously the prices rise.

Does that mean that it’s perhaps a bit of PR, that is to say that we have an average of cheaper tickets, but obviously for dates that don’t really interest travelers?

On the contrary, our Paris-Lyon prices, for example, start from 23 euros. You have to understand that there are 97% of customers who are satisfied with the quality-price ratio because, indeed, they find the prices very attractive.

There, why are bridge watches ultimately cheaper at SNCF than at Trenitalia?

You take an example where, indeed, the day before the bridges, the trains are already full. So that’s when the prices are the most expensive. But when we look overall during the week or a normal weekend, it’s true that the quality-price ratio is often more attractive.

In any case, these are particularly interesting dates, and they are less expensive with your SNCF competitors…

Afterwards, it’s a question of supply and demand. From the moment there are few places available and the demand is there, prices can indeed be higher. Now, we still have to realize that if we take the lines where we are present, for example Paris-Lyon and Paris-Marseille, last year we know that on the Paris-Lyon, on average, prices fell by 10% thanks to competition. On the Paris-Marseille route, prices have fallen by up to 30%.

It’s falling for everyone, for your company, but including the SNCF.

Yes, because competition also allows prices to fall, whereas on lines where there is no competition, prices have not really fallen.

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This text corresponds to part of the transcription of the interview broadcast in “Complément d’investigation” on April 23, 2026, following “SNCF: when prices go off the rails!” “. Click on the video to watch it in full.