FRENCH transport minister, Mr Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, has announced that the Paris - Nice overnight train service, which also serves Marseille and Toulon, will be restored in April and that “around 10” overnight services will be operating in France by 2030.
Overnight services have been severely cut back in recent years, with only the Paris - Briançon and Paris - Rodez/Toulouse - La Tour-de-Carol services still in operation, compared with eight routes in 2015. Djebarri also said that Paris - Tarbes will be relaunched in December.
In an interview with the Paris Dimanche newspaper the minister said his ambition was to see around 10 overnight services running over four main corridors by 2030: Bordeaux - Marseille, Dijon - Marseille, Tours - Lyon via Île-de-France and Paris - Toulouse.
Djebbari stated that these plans are based on the recommendations of a parliamentary report, which will be published shortly. After December 2021, there will be a pause on introducing new services until 2025 due to necessary track work on several routes and the need to acquire new night trains. Djebbari said he was counting on funds from the European Union's Green Deal to finance new services.
