‘Co-operation between historic operators’ sees Ouigo low-cost trains reach Brussels

EUROPE: In what the two incumbents have termed ‘a co-operation between historic operators’, SNCF and SNCB launched a low-cost loco-hauled Ouigo service between Paris and Brussels on December 17.

SNCF’s Chief Executive for TGV-Intercités Alain Krakovitch said the move is a response to ‘high competition with carbonised transport like cars and coach’.

Since the launch of Thalys (now Eurostar) high speed services between Paris and Brussels in the mid-1990s, conventional passenger services between the two capitals have steadily withered amid criticism from rail advo…