French trains are preparing to enter the Italian high-speed market: the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer (SNCF) yesterday applied to RFI, the Italian Network Operator, for a framework agreement. The announcement was made by the SNCF group's TGV-Intercity General Manager, Alain Krakovitch. Surprise moves to protect existing and new markets on the horizon are announced in the high-speed risiko. But working on modular customer offerings and different positioning to cushion the impact of the arrival of foreign operators, a strategy we can imagine being undertaken by Italo and Trenitalia at this point. SNCF already operates in Italy with a cross-border service between Paris, Turin, and Milan: "We will complement this with entry into the domestic market," Krakovitch explained, adding that the first trains on Italian HS tracks will arrive "progressively from 2026" on the Turin-Naples and Turin-Venice routes. "We have the ambition to cover 15% of the market by 2030," Krakovitch explained. The service will be daily with nine round-trip trains between Turin, Milan, Rome and Naples and four round-trips between Turin and Venice. The train used will be the new TGV M, whose first deliveries are scheduled for the second half of 2025.
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