The pension reform will also affect part of SNCF equipment. In a press release, the transport company expressed its desire to extend the lifespan of 104 TGVs from two to ten years in particular in order to “respond to a demand from ever-increasing numbers of travelers choosing the train”.
This “Botox” project to “extend the lifespan” of 104 TGV trains will be added to “strengthen the TGV offer” to the order placed for 115 new new generation TGV Inoui trains (TGV M), increase in the number of TGV Ouigo trains (from 38 to 50 trains) and “the intensification of the use of rolling stock”, specified the group.
Extend the service of TGV trains “beyond forty years”
With “Botox”, the objective is to “extend the lifespan of these TGVs beyond forty years”, declared Christophe Fanichet, CEO of SNCF Voyageurs, during a press conference. These are “nearly a third of our TGVs which can be extended”, he added, while the TGV fleet currently has 363 trainsets.
The company is already renovating its trains at mid-life, but “from 2026, 104 TGV trainsets will see their lifespan extended from two to ten years (…) beyond what is conventional” and, “obviously, this must be done with 100% safety, but also comfort” for travelers, underlined Alain Krakovitch, director of TGV-Intercités. These 104 trains “eligible for the Botox program will be assessed” and their renovation will last “until 2033”, he specified. The cost of this renovation program entrusted to the SNCF workshops is estimated at “around several hundred million euros”.
The duration of the extension of the life of the trains will depend on the results of the assessments, i.e. one to three years of studies depending on the trains. The renovation work could take between two weeks and six months. The first renovated trains will run in early 2026, with the program due to end in 2033.