Cross border workers are now counting down the months until train services between Cannes and Monaco are boosted to run every 15 minutes.
In 2019, the TER regional lines of the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français (SNCF) in the South of France started looking at ways to expand on their existing train services. The plans were disrupted due to the health crisis, but by November 2021, two new contracts were signed launching the first phase in the scheme.
These were made up of a Transdev Rail Sud service operating on the Marseille-Toulon-Nice axis, and another on SNCF’s lines in the Côte d’Azur and Roya valley.
EXPANDING TRAIN SERVICES
Now, the highly anticipated specifics have been revealed by Renaud Muselier, President of the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, on 23rd June in Marseilles.
Muselier confirmed that on the Cannes-Nice-Monaco line, “we will have a train every quarter of an hour from 6am to 11pm. This will be the first metropolitan RER outside Paris. On the entire network, we will go from 590 trains per day currently, to 750 in 2025.”
He also disclosed that, “On the Marseille-Toulon-Nice line, on 1st July 2025, we will go from seven trains a day to 14 trains a day. We are also going to buy 16 new trains for €250 million, in order to offer the best possible comfort for passengers.”
Meanwhile, the Les Arcs-Vintimille and Nice-Tende lines will go from 69 round trips per day to 120 from 13th December 2024.
Passenger travel on TER lines in the region have increased by 23% between April 2022 and April 2023, showing a strong need for expanded services.
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