EUROPE: Through services between Paris and Milano restarted on March 31, after 19 months of work to repair the damage caused by a major landslide near Maurienne in August 2023.
SNCF Voyageurs has restarted its Paris – Milano service with three return trains per day operated using six TGV Réseau PLT (Paris-Lyon-Torino) sets, stopping at Macon-Loché TGV, Chambéry, Modane, Oulx, Torino Porta Susa and Milano Porta Garibaldi.
SNCF Voyageurs CEO Christophe Fanichet said 110 000 bookings had already been made, representing a 70% occupancy rate. He explained that SNCF Voyageurs had been the only operator to organise a replacement service during the disruption, with a bus link between St-Michel-de-Maurienne and Oulx carrying 208 000 passengers from January 2024 to March 2025.
Italian operator Trenitalia restarted its Paris – Milano service on April 1, offering two return trains per day using Frecciarossa 1000 ETR400 sets with stops at Lyon-Part-Dieu, Chambéry, St-Jean-de-Maurienne, Modane, Oulx, Torino-Porta-Susa and Milano Centrale.
This ‘marks an important restart for Trenitalia and for the whole FS Group’, said Trenitalia CEO Gianpiero Strisciuglio. ’A connection that goes beyond the Italian border and represents an opportunity for passengers to plan their train journey to France not only from Milano and Torino, but also from other Italian cities and stations served by Trenitalia.’
He added that the operator was ‘restarting with a lot of confidence and energy’, as the route was very successful before the landslide and carried more than 3 million passengers in the first 18 months with high satisfaction rates’.
Freight traffic and French regional services on the route are to restart gradually.
