The end of an era. After 34 years of use, the blue and metallic TGVs of the SNCF will disappear this May in favor of a new generation of colors, announced Friday the specialized magazine Ville Rail & Transports.
This historic livery followed on from the first range of TGVs, the TGV Paris Sud-Est, recognizable for their bright orange colour, launched in 1981 and operating between Paris and Lyon.
They were then replaced in the 1990s by the famous blue and gray metal TGVs, the TGV Atlantique, inaugurated when the Atlantique high-speed line opened to the west of France. These high-speed trains, capable of reaching 300 km/h, were also used on lines in the north or in the east of France.
Progressive renovations
They have traveled “more than 30,000 times around the Earth”, greeted the SNCF in 2021, in a press release presenting the renovation of these trains. In total, 37 million euros have been invested to renovate more than 28 trains, which will now offer wi-fi on board.
“To refurbish these TGVs, we recover parts from old trains and recondition a large number of components”, specified the company. The work is carried out in workshops in Rennes, in Ille-et-Vilaine, and in Bischheim, in Bas-Rhin.
The renovations of the TGVs, already in progress, will affect the last existing blue and gray train in mid-May, specifies Ville Rail & Transports. From now on, the new TGVs display new color ranges, such as white and purple for the inOui lines, or light blue and pink for the Ouigo trains.