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European Railroad Discussion > Inside and Out: OuiGo TGV Dasye DuplexDate: 12/17/19 16:54 Inside and Out: OuiGo TGV Dasye Duplex Author: F7sForever In early 2013, SNCF announced a low-cost companion to their TGV high speed trains. Dubbed OuiGo (a conjunction of the French word for Yes, and go, and certainly carrying the intended second meaning in english, sounding like We Go) the service launched on April 1 of that year. The trains offer a no-frills version of the high speed travel that has made France famous, with some tickets on sale for as low as 10 euro each. SNCF sees itself in direct competition wirh discount airlines for precious passenger fares. And future open access to SNCF tracks by private carriers means that there is a pretty high urgency for the French national railroad to grab as much of the market share as it can. OuiGo has proven to be a very valuable business unit for SNCF. The carrier sold 2.5 million(!) tickets in its first year alone.
The OuiGo TGV fleet uses a group of repurposed second generation Dasye Duplex trains, built by Alstom. The cars train set makeup is similar, with two power cars and ten cars. But instead of a combination of first and second class, the trains are all second class. In addition, the trains don't have a restaurant/bar car, and have additional seating in tha car. This gives the OuiGo trains a capacity of 634 seats per train, compared to 508 for the regular service Dasye Duplex models. The service has been so successful that it appears that most if not all of the last of the Dasye Duplex train sets ordered went straight to the service. As the service has grown, the routes have been expanded to nearly the entire LGV system. Photo 1: My very first TGV ride was aboard a OuiGo duplex train from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris to Gare du Strasbourg in eastern France, in 2017. Our train, set 771 running with 772, is at left, while a second OuiGo train, 770, was also boarding at right. The service is based out of Marne la Vallee, a few miles east of Charles de Gaulle. At the time, OuiGo wasn't serving the major railway stations in Paris, mainly as a way of controlling costs. Photo 2: A set led by TGV 763 calling in Strasbourg on its way back to Paris during the 2017 visit. Photo 3: As an example of how much the OuiGo service has expanded in the intervening two years, a coupled pair of OuiGo TGVs (769 and 776) departs Strasbourg on its way south to Colmar last month. Interior photos will follow! Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/17/19 20:45 by F7sForever. Date: 12/17/19 17:00 Re: Inside and Out: OuiGo TGV Dasye Duplex Author: F7sForever Photo 4: The interior seats on the OuiGo service are a little different than the ones on other TGVs. The biggest differences are the lack of reclining feature, and the lack of drop down tables on the seat backs. They're also fairly bright, with blue seat material matching the exterior of the train, and pink seat back covers.
Photo 5: The cars come in two seating configurations: 2+2 across, and 3+1. Sadly, I don't have an example of the latter because I was pretty overwhelmed by the whole experience of whizzing along at 200mph on the new LGV Est, and quite literally never left my seat. The cars don't have as large of luggage racks as other TGV sets, but do have some racks at the ends of the cars. They also have only one table on each side, at the center of the car, with all rows of seats facing inward toward the center. Photo 6: Looking toward one car through the passageway from the next, showing the stairs going down to the lower level. All photos taken aboard OuiGo set 771. More photos to come, Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/17/19 17:19 by F7sForever. Date: 12/17/19 17:14 Re: Inside and Out: OuiGo TGV Dasye Duplex Author: F7sForever Photo 7: The major change in OuiGo service since my 2017 visit was that the expanded version of the service also started serving all of the major Paris rail stations, covering many of the same routes that the InOui TGVs cover, but with more intermediate stops. Here, two OuiGo sets - 791 and 794, the two highest numbered OuiGo sets that I have seen - call on Gare de Lyon in Paris.
Photo 8: The car that would otherwise be a cafe car on the TGV Dasye sets. On OuiGo set 769. The car is built the same, with three windows on this side and five on the other, but it has upstairs seats. Like its regular service counterpart, this car has equipment downstairs. I wish I had walked through the train last time I was on one. Perhaps next time, I won't make that mistake again. Photo 9: The very last TGV photo that I took on my November 2019 trip was one that was unheard of when I was there in 2017: OuiGo set 777 at Gare de l'Est in northern Paris. Initial response to the OuiGo service has been favorable. The service scavenged a lot fewer riders from TGV serivices than originally expected, meaning that a lot more riders were new customers from other modes - either other rail services upgrading to a faster trip, or from airline passengers changing travel modes. There's talk of expanding the service beyond the borders of France and into neighboring countries in the same manner that other TGV services do. I hope you've enjoyed this look at the inside and outside of TGV's low cost OuiGo trains. Despite their somewhat garish appearance and no frills service, I have a soft spot in my heart. It will be interesting to see what the future is for them. Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/17/19 17:21 by F7sForever. Date: 12/17/19 22:14 Re: Inside and Out: OuiGo TGV Dasye Duplex Author: gaspeamtrak Another set of great pictures !
I hope it works out for SCNF. I still would like to have the choice of first class and food service though. Both types of service seem to complement each other I think? Thank you for sharing !!!:):):) Date: 12/20/19 19:00 Re: Inside and Out: OuiGo TGV Dasye Duplex Author: F7sForever Thanks very much. I admit that I was a little surprised by the reception; I would've thought it would scavenge a lot more passengers from the regular service, but instead it seemed to attract more from other sources. One thing that is apparent out there is that there is a lot of competition between air and rail on the high speed lines. I remember watching planes take off from the small metro airport next to our hotel in London a few years ago, and one of the little regional airlines had the slogan "Faster than Rail" on all of their planes. I do know that SNCF and AirFrance have some cooperative fares leveraging the TGV station at Charles de Gaulle to hit some of the smaller metro destinations in France. All in all, it seems like it has been a good revenue generator for SNCF. I found info just today that they are doing some conversions still at Le Technicentre de Bischheim outside of Strasbourg. The TGV gas-turbine prototype is right close to the technicentre, and I noted a duplex set without power cars sitting in the yard near there when I was walking over from the bus. I wish I'd taken a photo of it; I suspect it is headed for OUIGO conversion
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/20/19 19:13 by F7sForever. Date: 12/20/19 19:05 Re: Inside and Out: OuiGo TGV Dasye Duplex Author: King_Coal Really interesting looking train. Thanks for posting all these photos.
I must say that in photo 5, OuiGo looks like (shudder) an airplane on the inside! Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/20/19 19:05 by King_Coal. |