Newcomer Proxima orders 12 TGVs from Alstom for €850 million

The plans were known before, but now French rail manufacturer Alstom has effectively received an order for 12 new-generation TGVs, as well as 15 years of maintenance, from the new French private train company Proxima. The order involves a sum of nearly 850 million euros.

Proxima, one of France’s first independent high-speed train companies, plans to launch its first connections in France by the late 2020s.

First deliveries expected in 2028

Proxima plans to connect Nantes, Bordeaux, Rennes, and Angers with Paris to eventually offer 10 million new seats for high-speed trains on that so-called Atlantic axis. The first deliveries of the new Alstom trains, the Avelia Horizon trains, are expected in 2028.

The Avelia Horizon trains—the model of the TGV M that SNCF plans to put into service in the second half of 2025—are double-deck trains with more seats than current TGVs. Proxima also intends to offer specific arrangements to differentiate itself from SNCF.

Alstom’s Avelia Horizon high-speed train is the latest generation of double-decker trains capable of traveling over 300 km/hour. This Proxima project will involve ten of Alstom’s 16 French sites.

Breaking monopoly

France has one of the most extensive high-speed rail networks in Europe, but few private operators have managed to break through the monopoly of SNCF, the state-owned railroad company. The fact that France has some of the highest prices paid by operators to maintain the lines has also driven prices up and made it more difficult for private operators to break that monopoly.

Proxima was founded by Rachel Picard, head of TGVs at SNCF until early 2020, and Timothy Jackson, who led RATPs operations in Britain and Ireland, founded Alpha Trains, a rolling stock rental company.

To finance the project, the Antin Infrastructure Partners fund has announced an investment of one billion euros, some of which will be used to purchase trains. The fund is also a shareholder in Proxima.

Görlitz plant to close

Alstom has also announced that it will close its plant in the eastern German city of Görlitz by the end of March 2026. Alstom said rolling-stock structural work was being shifted to Eastern Europe and that the move was part of specialization at German production sites, with sites at Henningsdorf, Kassel, and Mannheim affected.

The 175-year-old plant in Saxony employs some 700 workers.