From next year, SNCF’s low-cost Ouigo service will serve eight new stations in the north and west of the country.
Launched in 2013, the budget service initially connected eastern Paris with Lyon, Montpellier and Marseille, with prices starting at €10.
From 2016, the service will be expanded to include eight new stations: Tourcoing, TGV Haute Picardie, Nantes, Rennes, Le Mans, Angers, Roissy, Charles de Gaulle TGV and Massy TGV.
In its first two years, Ouigo has carried more than six million passengers.
SNCF said the new offering would “consolidate its leading position” in a changing travel market.
The main reason for its success must surely be the high cost of using standard services. Rather than setting up a new service and cannibalising your own market, why not just have an allocation of ultra-low cost fares on key routes?