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| · August 19, 2003 · |
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· Growth In Ridership, Market Share, Services Continues On France's Newest High-Speed Rail Line, TGV Mediterranee More than 90% of trains operate within 10 minutes of scheduleWHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (August 19, 2003) - Continued growth in ridership, market share, seat availability, services, and frequency of departures in the second full year of operation of France's newest high-speed rail line, TGV Mediterranee, is reported by Rail Europe Group, leading distributor of European rail travel and subsidiary of the French National Railroads (SNCF). In addition, increased frequency to Montpellier, Nimes, and Aix-en-Provence will go into effect September 1. Connecting Paris to Avignon, Aix-en-Provence, Nimes, Montpellier, Marseille and points throughout the south of France, TGV Mediterranee (TGV Med) carried 19 million passengers between June of 2002 and June of this year, up 8.5% over its first year of operation. When it was launched in 2001, the high-speed line cut one hour off most travel times, reduced the Paris-Marseille trip to 3 hrs. and Paris-Avignon to 2 hrs. 38 min. Enviable 90% on-time performance "Part of the reason for the growth may be TGV Med's enviable on-time performance record," explains Fabrice Morel, President of the Rail Europe Group. "More than 90% of the hundreds of trains along this route operate within 10 minutes of schedule which compares quite favorably to the airlines. Besides increasing ridership, this may also be one reason rail continues to gain market share at the expense of air on the routes served." Before TGV Med started operating at speeds up to 186 mph to the south of France, conventional rail only held 40% of the Paris-Marseille traffic. Today rail's share of transport market vs air has risen to 61% Paris-Marseille, 61% Paris-Montpellier, 95% Paris-Avignon and 90% Paris-Nimes. To handle the growing traffic, SNCF added 11 new double-decker (Duplex) trains this year, increasing available seats to 352,000 per week this summer on all TGV Med routes - a 6% increase over last year at this time. Service between Paris-Perpignan and Nantes-Marseille was expanded this summer by one more roundtrip each and on September 1 one more roundtrip will be added each to the schedules between Paris-Nimes-Montpellier, Paris-Aix, and Lyon-Aix. DVD movie rental is currently available from Paris, Lyon Part Dieu and Marseille stations, but soon this service will also be available at Avignon TGV, Valence TGV, Aix TGV and Montpellier. First class passengers to Paris or Marseille may also order taxis, eliminating the long waits in taxi lines at both terminals. Convenient and frequent bus shuttles are provided from TGV stations in Avignon and Aix to city centers. Serving more than 1 million North American passengers annually, Rail Europe Group consists of Rail Europe, Destination Europe Resources, Avanti Destinations, EuroVacations, LatinAmericaVacations, and EuroGroups, providing a wide range of travel services in Europe and Latin America. For more information or to book travel on TGV Med or trains throughout France, Europe or the UK, contact a travel agent or Rail Europe at 1-888-382-7245 in the U.S. or 1-800-361-7245 in Canada or log onto www.raileurope.com. Media Contact: A.J. Lazarus Associates, Inc. 212-904-1379 AJL@AJLazarusPR.com |
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