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Information on Alleo Operations?

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PerryPacer

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I was browsing Wikipedia and I stumbled across this article which mentions France - Germany cross-border services using the 'Alleo' brand. Since this section of the table hasn't been updated since mid-2016, and the specific article for Alleo don't mention service levels, I was wondering if anyone had any more information about services covered using the 'Alleo' brand. A timetable, or even a point in the right direction, would be really useful if anyone knew where to look?
Thanks!
 
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LSWR Cavalier

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Alleo was dissolved in 2019. If you click on the language icon of the wikipedia page you may read about it in German. Trains still run across the border of course.
 

k-c-p

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In contrast to Lyria (trains between Switzerland and France) the "brand" Alleo was never used for marketing/branding. The trains are just TGV/ICE services between Germany and France. The trains are operated in co-operation between SNCF and DB. Drivers from both countries drive both types of rolling stock in both countries. The customer facing train crew is a mixed team of SNCF and DB staff

"Alleo" trains operate in these routes. Pre Covid levels were round about
  • Paris -Strasbourg - Karlsruhe - Stuttgart (- Munich): 4 round trips a day (one trip in each direction extended to Munich)
  • Frankfurt - Mannheim - Saarbrücken - (Forbach) - Paris: used to be 5 round trip, now 3 or 4 as some trip where moved to run via Strasbourg because this route is faster (only one train in each direction calls at Forbach)
  • Frankfurt - Mannheim - Strasbourg - Paris: 2 round trips daily
  • Frankfurt - Mannheim - Strasbourg - Mulhouse - Lyon - Avignon - Marseille: 1 round trip per day
Due to lower demand because of Covid and the travel restrictions to/from France/Germany the service level is reduced for quite some time now.
 

JonathanP

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Perhaps not so useful if you don't speak German, but there's an interesting documentary about a Frankfurt - Paris ICE service here:

It mentions a couple of amusing problems that had to be overcome to merge the two systems.

For instance - French conductors wear a cap for easy identification when dispatching trains. The German uniform does not include hats at all, but in order to comply with French practice the conductors that work the Paris services have to be specially issued with caps for the sole purpose of wearing them when standing on French platforms!
The driver and conductor also have to switch languages for any operational communications once they cross the border, even though it is the same people.

The TGV services inside Germany are also your only chance to use an TGV without needing a reservation.
 

LNW-GW Joint

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Does that mean revenue and costs are shared, and timetables jointly agreed, so that SNCF and DB are not in any sense competing with each other?
In particular, that makes Paris-Strasbourg a joint market.
When France finally allows open access on high speed routes (2023?), it will be interesting if it stays like that.
Or will Trenitalia and Renfe spoil the party?
 

k-c-p

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Yes, schedules are setup jointly. According to the rumour mill the extension to Munich was a wish of SNCF. In the past there have also been additional Munich service during "Oktoberfest". Some ICE trains called at "Lorraine TGV" in the past. So, there are always some slight changes. The biggest change in recent times was the introduction of the "Frankfurt-Strasbourg-Paris" services - this Southern route is about 30min faster than the route via Saabrücken due to the LGV Est extension to the outskirts of Strasbourg.

No idea how the revenue sharing works. Both side sell ticket for the trains at different price points. Usually, it is worth to check and compare prices between the two. At least at SNCF side a cross border ticket could be cheaper than a domestic on the same train. On the 19:00 late service from Paris to Frankfurt you see a lot of seats booked to Saarbrücken but the passengers alight at Forbach :).

The cooperation between DB and SNCF is setup for a certain time frame (iirc the last extension was 5 years) and then reviewed. Lets see how this plays out in the future. In Belgium for instance SNCF (as owner of Thalys) and DB are competitors because DB runs the ICE to Brussels as open access operator.
 

30907

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Both side sell ticket for the trains at different price points. Usually, it is worth to check and compare prices between the two. At least at SNCF side a cross border ticket could be cheaper than a domestic on the same train. On the 19:00 late service from Paris to Frankfurt you see a lot of seats booked to Saarbrücken but the passengers alight at Forbach :).
IIRC the dual pricing (for Advance-type fares) only applies cross-border.
Another pecularity has been the mix of rolling stock - originally all the Frankfurt trains were ICE, but even before the Strasbourg variant one round trip was scheduled for a TGV owing to poor availability of the ICE sets (which users of the Frankfurt-Brussels service know all about!).
 
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