Renfe strengthens its presence in Narbonne while awaiting Paris

France is not making things easy for Renfe. After unilaterally breaking the collaboration they had maintained for almost ten years, the Spanish operator continues to try to operate the main corridor, Barcelona-Paris, as it did before, where its French counterpart, SNFC, has continued to circulate, having abandoned the rest of the shared routes but keeping the most lucrative one. For now, the obstacles they are putting in place make it impossible for AVE trains to reach the French capital for the Olympic Games, as the railway company aspired to do.

Given this scenario, Renfe is betting on enriching the offer it already has in France, with daily connections in both directions between Barcelona and Lyon, and between Madrid and Marseille, a route that also passes through the Catalan capital and Tarragona, as well as Girona and Figueres in both cases. With the end of cooperation in December 2022, the Spanish operator's services in France were reactivated on weekends in July last year, moving to daily frequencies from last October. Since achieving full operation, half a million travelers have been added, with an occupancy close to 80%. "We have exceeded our expectations," says Susana Lozano, head of Renfe AVE Internacional.

One of the main stops for both corridors is Narbonne, which can be reached in just two hours from Sants. To differentiate its service from SNCF, the Spanish operator will start marketing tourist packages that combine train tickets with the municipality's main attraction, Les Grands Buffets, a very popular restaurant known for offering the largest selection of cheeses in the world, visited by almost 40,000 Catalans each year and with a six-month waiting list for a table. The agreement reached by the railway company with the establishment, in which the Narbonne City Council also participates, will include hotel reservations, with the aim of extending the visit beyond the feast and allowing visitors to discover other parts of the city and the Côte du Midi region. It will thus follow the model that works so well for it in Spain with the joint sale of train trips and tickets to musicals in Madrid. Renfe's international division expects to announce new commercial agreements soon, similar to that of Les Grands Buffets, in some of the nine cities it already serves in France, not only focusing on the gastronomic sector.

While consolidating its position in cities like Narbonne, Renfe is not giving up and continues to work on opening new destinations in the neighboring country, always under the AVE brand and not opting for a low-cost one as SNFC has done in Spain with Ouigo. The main objective is Barcelona-Paris and, although it does not yet have a launch date, it is "one of Renfe's strategic points," according to Lozano, but they also want to attract domestic customers, as SNFC has already been able to do in Spain, where it did not take as long to start operating. "It is fundamental. The objective of an international route is not only the traveler who makes origin and destination, but also the traveler between stops. Now there is more international traffic but we hope to increase the French one," says Lozano.

Once in Paris, the AVE trains will allow travelers to move from the French capital to Marseille and Lyon, the country's second and third cities. Especially, the railway company is interested in the Paris-Lyon route, a route with five times more passenger potential than Barcelona-Madrid, despite having a distance comparable to Madrid-Seville. Currently, only the French operator and the Italian one, Trenitalia, connect Paris and Lyon. "Wherever there is demand for French and Spanish travelers, Renfe will study it," says Lozano. Among the options on the table is also recovering the connection with Toulouse, a route that Renfe and SNCF jointly offered years ago.

Les Grands Buffets is updated

Renfe's agreement with Les Grands Buffets coincides with a new growth phase for the restaurant, with an annual turnover of 25 million euros and a staff of 220 employees. The establishment, open every day of the year with lunch and dinner shifts, expects to go from the current 390,000 diners per year to 800,000. After having considered leaving Narbonne, with nearby Béziers as the preferred option, the buffet led by Louis Privat has opted to remain in the location where it was born 35 years ago after the change in the municipal government.

To more than double its clientele, Les Grands Buffets will invest 20 million euros in updating its facilities, inaugurated in 1989, with new spaces such as a gastronomic shop and a tea room. The reception area will also be transformed; it currently coincides with the entrance to the swimming pool, bowling alley, and ice rink with which it shares space in the Espace de Liberté leisure complex, better separating user flows. The works are expected to begin next year and be completed in 2026, without closing the restaurant at any time.