Velvet readies 12 double-deck trains to challenge SNCF from 2028

Velvet, the start-up backed by the investor Antin Infrastructure Partners, now holds a French railway undertaking licence and wants to run high-speed trains from Paris to Bordeaux, Nantes, Angers and Rennes. It promises 10 million extra seats a year but has published no fares, timetables or stations.

Velvet obtained its railway undertaking licence in September 2026, according to its official website, and Euronews reported the decision on 1 September. The site calls Velvet "the first independent French high-speed rail company". Rachel Picard, its president, told Euronews on 1 September that the licence was "an important step" towards preparing its trains, staff and operations. Direct journeys are expected to average about two hours.

Picard previously ran SNCF Voyages and led the overhaul of the station arm Gares & Connexions. Her co-founder, Tim Jackson, founded the rolling stock lessor Alpha Trains and headed RATP Dev in the UK and South Africa. The project was launched in June 2024 under the name Proxima, with about €1bn from Antin to buy and maintain trains and cover launch costs, Antin said on 6 June 2024. The Velvet name was revealed in July 2025.

The fleet comes from Alstom, which announced on 3 October 2024 a firm order for 12 Avelia Horizon trainsets worth almost €850m, including 15 years of maintenance. These double-deck trains have articulated cars between two short power cars and can run above 300 km/h; Alstom has not given a seat count. Cars are built at La Rochelle and power cars at Belfort, with servicing planned at Marcheprime, near Bordeaux, in a depot built by Liséa, the concession company of the Tours–Bordeaux high-speed line. The first trainset was named at La Rochelle in April 2026 and now faces static, then dynamic, testing.

What Velvet still needs before 2028

The closest precedent is Trenitalia on Paris–Lyon. The Italian operator began on 18 December 2021 with "nearly 5000 places a day", according to its parent group FS, and had reached 14 weekday return trips by December 2025, Voyages d'Affaires reported. Velvet's 10 million seats a year would mean roughly 27,000 a day, more than five times that opening offer, spread over four destinations. Our guide to Paris–Lyon fares sets the TGV, Ouigo and Frecciarossa offers side by side.

Twelve trainsets remain a small fleet next to SNCF, which has 115 TGV M units on order and added 15 more in January 2026, Voyages d'Affaires reported. Euronews notes that Velvet is buying the same new-generation train SNCF is introducing, so the incumbent will compete with matching hardware. Velvet still needs a safety certificate, Euronews adds, and must book its train paths with SNCF Réseau, according to Le Bonbon. In France a single safety certificate is issued either by the EU Agency for Railways or by the national authority, EPSF.

For passengers, Euronews points to more choice and potentially more competitive fares. Velvet insists it will not be a low-cost offer, Le Bonbon reported on 7 September, and says 15% of travellers currently give up on the train for lack of seats. The company has not said which Paris terminus it will use, how often it will run, or on what date in 2028 sales and services will begin.

Sources: Velvet, official website (consulted 8 November 2026); Euronews (1 September 2026); Le Bonbon (7 September 2026); Alstom (3 October 2024); Antin Infrastructure Partners (6 June 2024); FS Italiane (10 December 2021); Voyages d'Affaires (12 September 2025); Voyages d'Affaires (20 January 2026).

Main photo: platforms under the train shed at Bordeaux Saint-Jean, one of the cities Velvet plans to serve, 31 March 2013 — patrick janicek, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. Second photo: SNCF's TGV M 999, built on the same Alstom Avelia Horizon platform that Velvet has ordered, at Paris Gare de l'Est, 30 June 2025 — Ptrcnull, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

Article written with the help of artificial intelligence from the sources cited, reviewed by the TrainsNews editorial team before publication.