EXTREME MAKEOVER: SNCF's Atlantic route TGV trains have had a 'fashionable' revamp to bring them into the 21st century

摘要

BRIGHT NEW colours, rounded ergonomic forms and mood lighting: the refurbished TGV's introduced since late October on the Atlantic routes mark a conscious bid by the SNCF to evoke modernity -"enhance the TGV values of performance, modernity and fluidity" in SNCF-speak - and keep the 19-year-old, second-generation TGV Atlantique ahead of the game and in good stead for the opening of the European rail market. A fundamental role has been given to interior design in a two-pronged approach aimed at both revitalising the TGV marketing image and meeting new demands for passenger comfort in a lifestyle-based approach to the train and its users. The massive Euro 350 million refurbishment project involves 183 trains - almost half the TGV rolling stock - which will be brought into service progressively over the next five years, initially on the Atlantic coastal routes, and from June 2007, with renovated third-generation Reseau trains, on the new TGV Est between Paris and Strasbourg.