Renfe to start Barcelona-Lyon train operations on July 13

Spain's rail operator Renfe is to start a Barcelona-Lyon route on July 13, with tickets going on sale on Wednesday, the company's president announced on Monday in the Catalan capital.

Starting prices will range from €9 for internal trips within France to €29 for those traveling from Barcelona to Lyon or Marseille and those traveling from Madrid to Marseille.

"It has not been an easy journey," Raül Blanco, Renfe's president, told attendees at the event before announcing July 13 as the start of operations for the Barcelona-Lyon route and July 28 for the Madrid-Marseille one.

Historic day

From October 1, Renfe will offer a full complement of 9,700 seats. Still, the operator wanted to launch the service on July 13, coinciding with one of the busiest weekends in France because of the July 14 Bastille Day national holiday.

July 13 marks a "historic day for Renfe, as we will depart from Barcelona to strengthen the operator's relationship with the Catalan capital," Blanco said.

"This has been a very requested route for a long time," he added, but the company's goal is to reach Paris in 2024.

"There are still some things to finish ahead of establishing the Paris route," Blanco said, a trip that will also connect Marseille and the French capital.

One of Renfe's desires is to see "Spanish Olympian athletes arriving in Paris on the company's train," Blanco said, "a dream" situation. 

"We still do not have a date [to arrive in Paris], there is a lot of work to do, but regarding next year's very important event in France, the Olympic Games, it would be a dream, this date is our reference," he added.

Discovering French cities

The new routes will allow passengers to discover Spain's high-speed trains connecting Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Avignon, Béziers, Aix-en-Provence, and Narbonne.

The operator has launched a €19 offer for travelers going from Montpellier or Narbonne to Barcelona, Zaragoza, or Madrid to make it more affordable. 

The whole route will cost €29.

The Barcelona-Lyon route will start at 8:22 am in the Catalan capital, stopping at Girona, Figueres-Vilafant, Perpignan, Narbonne, Montpellier, Nîmes, and Valence-TGV, before reaching Lyon at 1:20 pm.

Meanwhile, the return train will depart at 2:30 pm from the French city and reach Barcelona at 7:32 pm. The journey time is five hours.

The Madrid-Marseille route will start at 1:25 pm in Madrid Puerta de Atocha, stopping at Tarragona at 3:46 pm, Barcelona-Sants at 4:34 pm, Girona at 5:15 pm, Figueres at 5:32 pm, and reaching Marseille at 9:30 pm. On the other way round, the train will depart from Marseille at 8:03 am, and will get arrive to Barcelona at 12:50 pm.

Daily services

During the first weeks, Renfe will only operate from Friday to Monday between Lyon and Barcelona, except for the first day of the route, which is on a Thursday.

Two weeks later, on July 28, when the Madrid-Marseille route starts, the company will have 16 services per week.

From September, the route to the capital of the Rhône-Alpes region will be daily, and the same will happen in October for the largest city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region.

Between Barcelona and Nîmes, there will be four trains daily.

Catalan cities such as Girona and Figueres will also enjoy these routes, connecting the northernmost stop in Catalonia with Montpellier in just two hours.

Months of tests

Renfe had been performing test runs for months for drivers to get used to the route.

When Renfe trains cross the Spanish-French border again, it will mark the first solo international route the company offers to its customers. Currently, it has cooperation agreements abroad but not as the sole rail company. 

In fact, a partnership agreement between Renfe and its French counterpart, SNCF, was in place until December 11, when the French company started operating a direct line between Barcelona and Paris on its own.