You should be able to travel aboard these new types of trains from the second half of 2025, on the southeast route between Paris and Marseille. This Monday, the TGV M, also called “TGV of the future”, was presented for the first time in Belfort by the SNCF in the factory of its manufacturer Alstom. The last step before the commercial phase for this 5th generation TGV Inoui.
If it is first recognizable thanks to its nose, more aerodynamic and the “almost animal” shape, it is above all inside that it hides most of its new features. Travelers should first feel less crowded since the SNCF promises up to 740 seats, compared to 634 currently. Above all, it aims to be transformable thanks to “unprecedented modularity” (which is hidden behind the M in its name), allowing the trains to be adjusted according to needs: reducing the number of seats in 1st class in favor of 2nd class, adding space for bicycles and luggage, etc.
The “carmillon touch” for doors
The train, which is now painted and no longer laminated for better resistance over time, appeared this Monday morning covered in round gray and white shapes, light colors which should preserve the heat in the carriage. The doors are colored with the “carmillon touch, or more precisely Frenchberry”, this characteristic red of the SNCF TGV which has therefore decided to continue with a “simple and fluid aesthetic”.
But the TGV M is also intended to be more ecological and more economical than its predecessors. “It is a TGV of its time but above all a futuristic TGV, since it will last more than 50 years, a TGV born to last,” commented on X the CEO of SNCF Voyageurs, Alain Krakovitch. The carbon footprint of this future train will be “the lowest on the market”, thanks to a “32% reduction in CO2 emissions” for each journey. To be sure of all this, four test trains and the first commercial train are in the testing phase until the end of 2024.