Inter-city competition beckons
The French government has made its first move to open up domestic main line passenger services to competition by publishing an OJEU Prior Information Notice covering Nantes-Bordeaux and Nantes-Lyon services that are currently operated by state-owned SNCF.
The tendering process is expected to start in at least 12 months’ time, with the government planning to award a contract for a single operator to run both services from 2022.
It is the first competitive tendering process under a rail reform programme passed into law in June 2018, to ensure compliance with the EU’s Fourth Railway Package.
We've read it in: Railway Gazette International, February 2019, p7
