Thello

Thello is a French simplified joint company ("Société par actions simplifiée"). The establishment took place after the cooperation between SNCF and Trenitalia which had previously operated jointly Artesia trains between Paris and Italy. It initially accounted for two-thirds of the shares in Trenitalia and a third on Transdev.

Night trains run by Thello operated daily since 11 December 2011 on the route between Paris-Gare de Lyon and Venice-Santa Lucia with stops in Dijon-Ville, Milan Central, Brescia, Verona, Vicenza and Padua and Venice-Mestre. Cabotage, the carriage of national passengers on a leg of the international journey, has hitherto not been permitted by the Autorité de régulation des activités ferroviaires (ARAF), the body which regulates free competition in the French rail network; tickets between Paris and Dijon are therefore not offered by Thello.[4]

Beginning on 9 December 2012, Thello took over services between Paris and Rome, which had previously been operated by Artesia,[5] but the service was withdrawn after one year, on 14 December 2013; Thello reported a loss of 30 million euros in 2012. The specific reason given was difficulties in obtaining timetable routes with attractive travel times.

In 2013, Thello got permission to run daily train services between Marseille and Milan starting in 2014, with stops in Genoa and Nice. In a decision of 9 July 2013, the ARAF confirmed that the proposed connection was compatible with the rules applicable in France to competitive international rail services and that it was not in competition with the TERs subsidised by the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region.

From 11 December 2011 until the Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020, Thello operated night trains between Paris Gare de Lyon and Venezia Santa Lucia railway station.[1] The trains stopped at Dijon-Ville, Milano Centrale, Brescia, Verona Porta Nuova, Vicenza and Padova.

The train operating staff was Trenitalia's in Italy and Thello's in France.

First Thello train at Paris Gare de Lyon station on 11 December 2011

Initially the carriages were leased by Trenitalia while the locomotive was leased from Akiem by SNCF Geodis. The locomotives used were three-system SNCF Class BB 36000 electric locomotives uprated from 160 km/h (99 mph) to 200 km/h (120 mph) operation in France to the Italian border.[1]

The sleeping-cars were type MU, a design originally created for the Wagons-Lits Company, built 1964-1974 but refurbished by Trenitalia in the mid-2000s when LED lighting & corridor CCTV were fitted and carpets had been removed. Each sleeping-car has 12 compartments with washbasin, each usable as single, double, or triple. Couchette cars are of various types and could be used as 4 berth or 6 berth.

Thello night trains had three classes:[1]

• 6 berth couchette
• 4 berth couchette
• 1-3 berth sleeping compartments

Some services carried a restaurant car operated by LSG Sky Chefs, where it was possible to have dinner and breakfast on board.[1]

Night trains from Paris to Rome were operated by Thello only in 2012–2013.

From 14 December 2014 to the end of 2020, Thello also operates daytime trains between Milan and Marseille, via Genoa and Nice.,[6] which is compressed since 12 April 2015 by two more train pairs in the section between Nice and Milan.

Since the beginning of 2013, the company has had the safety certificate required for traffic on the Belgian railway network. Thello had announced that they want to appear in direct competition with Thalys on the Paris-Brussels connection from 2014 onwards. To date, however, these plans have not materialised.

E 444 084 hauls a Thello Eurocity along the Ligurian Coast

Media related to Thello at Wikimedia Commons

• www.thello.com