"Allegro Project". This is the name of the file on which the teams of SNCF Voyageurs would work for several months, according to Le Parisien. The objective of this project would be to continue the international development of the French railway company, by importing to Italy the Ouigo low-cost train model on the Turin - Milan - Rome - Naples and Turin - Venice high-speed lines.

A launch by 2026?

For the time being, SNCF has already exported itself to Spain and offers a Paris-Milan route. No information on this possible development in Italy has been confirmed by the company. Internally, however, the Allegro project should be presented on April 26 by the management to the European Works Council (CEE), the body of the SNCF responsible for defining the strategy for international development.

In detail, according to information from Le Parisien, the SNCF would provide for the establishment of 13.5 daily round trips in Italy, including "nine round trips Milan – Rome and four round trips Turin – Venice". The launch should gradually take place "between June 2026 and March 2028," according to a management document.

Competing with Trenitalia

This project appears as a response to the arrival of Trenitalia, the equivalent of SNCF in Italy, on the Paris - Lyon line at the end of 2021. By taking up its Ouigo model, the SNCF seeks to offer "something popular that does not exist to seduce leisure travelers". Already, the development of Ouigo in Spain, on Madrid – Barcelona, has allowed SNCF to grab some market share.



To achieve this development in Italy, the company will be able to count on its subsidiary SNCF Voyages Italia (SVI), which already manages the Paris – Milan routes. It therefore already has the authorisations to put trains on Italian lines. But the SNCF would not yet have "rolling stock capable of circulating on Italian routes". A need that should be filled by the 15 TGV M trainsets known as the "Southern Corridor", ordered from Alstom in July 2022, and which should be delivered between April 2026 and March 2028.

  • Economy
  • Italy
  • SNCF
  • Ouigo
  • Train