Type of site | e-commerce |
---|---|
Available in | English,French,German,Italian,Spanish,Dutch |
Founded | 16 May 2000; 24 years ago (16 May 2000) |
Headquarters | , |
Area served | Worldwide |
Industry | Internettravel agency |
Revenue | €151.1 million(2018) |
Parent | SNCF |
URL | www |
Launched | 16 May 2000; 24 years ago (16 May 2000) |
SNCF Connect, formerlyOUI.sncf until January 25, 2022,[1] is a subsidiary ofSNCF selling passes and point-to-point tickets for rail travel around Europe. It has commercial links to major European rail operators including SNCF,Eurostar,Deutsche Bahn, andThalys, and is made up of four independent companies in distinct geographical areas. As at 2003, It was the largest Frenchelectronic commerce website in volume.[2] One quarter of French SNCF tickets are sold by this website.[3][4]
In 2013 it expanded throughout Europe with 14 websites in six languages under the Voyages-sncf.com brand, incorporating the former Rail Europe Limited. Rail Europe Continental and TGV Europe. In December 2017 it was rebranded Oui.sncf.
In January 2022, the president ofSNCF Voyageurs, Christophe Fanichet announced the merger of the OUI.sncf sales platform and the SNCF Assistant, which provides information on the state of traffic, through the creation of a new site and a new mobile application: SNCF Connect.[5]
Voyages-sncf.com was founded as aninternettravel agency website in France in June 2000.[6] In July 2017, it purchased the business ofLoco2.[7] In December 2017, Voyages-sncf.com was rebranded as Oui.sncf.[8]
In 1893, theChemin de Fer du Nord became the first French private railway to be represented in the UK, establishing an office atLondon Victoria station. Almost 20 years later, theChemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée (PLM) opened an office at 179Piccadilly, London.
In 1937 Francenationalised its rail network and the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français (SNCF) was created by the merger of the state railway company with five other principal operators. SNCF created French Railways, incorporating the UK operations of its predecessors.
In 1995 French Railways opened a larger public call centre inLeake Street (nearWaterloo station) in London, and two years later acquired British Rail International. SNCF subsequently merged French Railways and British Rail International to form Rail Europe Limited.
In 2002 Rail Europe merged its head office operations from Piccadilly and the call centre from Leake Street into new premises inKings Hill,Kent, and in December 2007 the travel centre in Piccadilly moved to new premises shared withVisitBritain atBritish Columbia House inRegent Street, London. In February 2012, the travel centre moved to 193 Piccadilly.
In December 2013 Rail Europe rebranded itself as part of Voyages-sncf.com in the UK.[9] In November 2015 the Voyages-sncf London travel centre closed; bookings can now be made online, via a mobile app, or through the Voyages-sncf.com call centre.[10] The North American, Australian and World websites however still use the Rail Europe brand.
As well as selling and distributing tickets for SNCF and other European railways, until 2009 Rail Europe organised two chartered rail services in France. Operated by SNCF using standard French rolling stock, both services were aimed at the UK market and staffed by both French personnel (driver and guard) and English-speaking Rail Europe representatives ("Rail Travel Supervisors").
This chartered service operated between December or January and April to transport passengers directly to the ski resorts of theFrench Alps.
The journey took place in two stages; theEurostar on a Friday fromLondon orAshford International toParis, followed by a transfer to an overnight sleeper service composed of 10 Vu-84Corail coaches with sleeping accommodation consisting of six berth "couchette" compartments. The train included a Bar/Disco coach, with disco lighting and DJ booth.This overnight service called atChambéry,Albertville, Aime la Plagne and Landry, terminating atBourg St Maurice early Saturday morning. The return service departed from Bourg St Maurice on Saturday evenings, with passengers arriving by Eurostar in London or Ashford on Sunday morning. The Rail Europe Snowtrain was suspended in 2009 due to economic uncertainty.[11]
British skiers wishing to travel by train to the French Alps during the winter can now instead take the Eurostar to Paris and change for high-speed or overnight services to stations likeChamonix, Bourg St Maurice,Briançon,Moûtiers andMegève. Eurostar also runs Direct Ski services during the ski season, calling at Moûtiers, Bourg St Maurice and Aime-la-Plagne, stations which serve ski resorts includingCourchevel,Les Arcs,Tignes,Méribel, Aime la Plagne andVal d'Isère.
Motorail services carry cars and motorbikes using car transporters attached to the train. Operating from May to September, Rail Europe's French Motorail service was aimed at travellers wishing to take their cars to the South of France and onwards with a minimum amount of driving.
The train departed fromCalais several times every week during the summer months, terminating atNice (calling atAvignon andFrejus) andNarbonne (calling atBrive la Gaillarde andToulouse.) The service was cancelled in 2009 due to economic uncertainty.
Those wishing to take their cars to France can now drive to Paris and pick up an 'Auto-Train' service, whereby cars are transported on overnight trains toAvignon,Bordeaux,Brive la Gaillarde, Fréjus/St Raphaël,Lyon,Marseille, Narbonne, Nice,Toulon and Toulouse. Unlike on the Motorail service, passengers may then either travel on the same route with aLunéasleeping-car ticket or on a different train such as a daytimeTGV.
Created in 1995, Rail Europe 4A is a joint venture between SNCF andSwiss Federal Railways. The head office of Rail Europe 4A is located in Paris. The company has several local offices and General Sales Agents in Asia, Australasia, Africa and South America.
Rail Europe 4A is a leading distributor of point to point tickets and rail passes. In 2012, Rail Europe 4A launched the Rail Europe Connexion[1], a magazine and website for inspirational trips in Europe.
This wholly owned subsidiary of the French Railways is responsible for the marketing and distribution of French domestic and international rail products in continental Europe. Rail Europe Continentale has its headquarters in Brussels and offices in Cologne, Milan, Geneva and Madrid.
The website saw several outages in its history, which were criticized by French medias.[12][13][14]
On 5 February 2009, SNCF wasfined€ 5 million by the FrenchConseil de la concurrence for "giving a preferential treatment to its subsidiary voyages-sncf.com, created with the American online travel agencyExpedia".[15][16] SNCF did not appeal the decision, but Expedia did.[17]
Oui.sncf has the status of travel agency, like its competitors:
Premier site marchand en France, et parmi les principaux acteurs européens du secteur(First e-commerce website in France, and among the main actors in the European e-commerce economy)
Voyages-sncf.com, premier site de commerce électronique en France, reçoit 700 000 visites par jour, et 38 millions de billets y ont été vendus en 2007, soit le quart des tickets SNCF.(Voyages-sncf.com, first e-commerce website in France, see 700 000 visitors each day, and sold 38 millions of tickets in 2007, a quarter of the SNCF tickets sold each year).