SNCF Connect, formerly OUI.sncf until January 25, 2022, is a subsidiary of

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffi ...

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 The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the se ...

, and Thalys, and is made up of four independent companies in distinct geographical areas. As at 2003, It was the largest French

electronic commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manageme ...

website in volume. One quarter of French SNCF tickets are sold by this website. 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 of

SNCF Voyageurs SNCF Voyageurs (English: ''SNCF Travelers)'' is a state-owned enterprise founded on 1 January 2020, an independent subsidiary of the French National Railway Company (SNCF), in charge of operating passenger trains. Its predecessor is (partially) ...

, 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.

History

Voyages-sncf.com was founded as an

internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

travel agency website in France in June 2000. In July 2017, it purchased the business of

Loco2 Raileurope.co.uk (formerly Loco2) is an online Computer reservations system, booking service for train travel in the United Kingdom and Europe. It sells tickets through its website and via its smartphone app which is available on iOS and Android ( ...

. In December 2017, Voyages-sncf.com was rebranded as Oui.sncf.

In the United Kingdom

In 1893, the

Chemin de Fer du Nord The Chemins de fer du Nord''French locomotive built in 1846''

became the first French private railway to be represented in the UK, establishing an office at

London Victoria station Victoria station, also known as London Victoria, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Victoria, in the City of Westminster, managed by Network Rail. Named after the nearby Victoria Street (not the Qu ...

. Almost 20 years later, the

Chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée The Compagnie des chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée ("Railway Company of Paris to Lyon and the Mediterranean"), also known as the Chemins de fer Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée or simply PLM, established in 1857, was one of Fran ...

(PLM) opened an office at 179

Piccadilly Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road that connects central London to Hammersmith, Earl's Court, ...

, London. In 1937 France

nationalised Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

its rail network and the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français (

) 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 in

Leake Street Leake Street (also known as the Banksy Tunnel) is a road tunnel in Lambeth, London where graffiti is tolerated regardless of the fact that it is against the law. The street is about 300 metres long, runs off York Road, Lambeth, York Road and u ...

(near

Waterloo station Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a central London terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Underground station of t ...

) 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 in Kings Hill,

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, and in December 2007 the travel centre in Piccadilly moved to new premises shared with

VisitBritain VisitBritain is the name used by the British Tourist Authority, the tourist board of Great Britain incorporated under the Development of Tourism Act 1969. Under memoranda of understanding with the Northern Ireland Tourist Board and the offshore is ...

at British Columbia House in

Regent Street Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. It is named after George, the Prince Regent (later George IV) and was laid out under the direction of the architect John Nash and James Burton. It runs from Waterloo Place ...

, 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. 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. The North American, Australian and World websites however still use the Rail Europe brand.

Rail Europe Chartered Operations

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").

The Rail Europe Snowtrain

This chartered service operated between December or January and April to transport passengers directly to the ski resorts of the French Alps. The journey took place in two stages; the Eurostar on a Friday from

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Ashford International Ashford International railway station is a National Rail station in Ashford, Kent, England. It connects several railway lines, including High Speed 1 and the South Eastern Main Line. Services are operated by Southeastern and Southern. The stat ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, followed by a transfer to an overnight sleeper service composed of 10 Vu-84 Corail 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 at Chambéry, Albertville, Aime la Plagne and Landry, terminating at

Bourg St Maurice Bourg-Saint-Maurice (; Arpitan: ''Bôrg-Sant-Mori'' or simply ''Le Bôrg''), popularly known as Bourg, is a commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France. Located on the Italian border south of Cha ...

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. 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 like Chamonix, Bourg St Maurice, Briançon,

Moûtiers Moûtiers (; Arpitan: ''Motiérs''), historically also called Tarentaise, is a commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France. In 2018, it had a population of 3,511. Moûtiers is the main access point ...

and Megève. 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 including Courchevel,

Les Arcs Les Arcs () is a ski resort located in Savoie, France, in the Tarentaise Valley town of Bourg-Saint-Maurice. Initially created by Robert Blanc and Roger Godino, it is a part of the huge Paradiski system which is under ownership by Compagnie des A ...

, Tignes, Méribel, Aime la Plagne and

Val d'Isère Val may refer to: Val-a Film * ''Val'' (film), an American documentary about Val Kilmer, directed by Leo Scott and Ting Poo Military equipment * Aichi D3A, a Japanese World War II dive bomber codenamed "Val" by the Allies * AS Val, a Sov ...

French Motorail

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 from

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...

several times every week during the summer months, terminating at

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

(calling at

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...

and Frejus) and Narbonne (calling at Brive la Gaillarde and

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

.) 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 to

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

, Brive la Gaillarde, Fréjus/St Raphaël,

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

, Narbonne, Nice,

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

and Toulouse. Unlike on the Motorail service, passengers may then either travel on the same route with a Lunéa sleeping-car ticket or on a different train such as a daytime

TGV The TGV (french: Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train"; previously french: TurboTrain à Grande Vitesse, label=none) is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 19 ...

Rail Europe 4A

Created in 1995, Rail Europe 4A is a joint venture between SNCF and

Swiss Federal Railways Swiss Federal Railways (german: link=no, Schweizerische Bundesbahnen, ''SBB''; french: link=no, Chemins de fer fédéraux suisses, ''CFF''; it, Ferrovie federali svizzere, ''FFS'') is the national railway company of Switzerland. It is usuall ...

. 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 Connexio

a magazine and website for inspirational trips in Europe.

Rail Europe Continentale

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.

Criticisms

Outages

The website saw several outages in its history, which were criticized by French medias.

Anti-competitive behavior

On 5 February 2009, SNCF was Fine (penalty), fined

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

5 million by the French Conseil de la concurrence for "giving a preferential treatment to its subsidiary voyages-sncf.com, created with the American online travel agency

Expedia Expedia Inc. is an online travel agency owned by Expedia Group, an American online travel shopping company based in Seattle. The website and mobile app can be used to book airline tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals, cruise ships, and vacat ...

". SNCF did not appeal the decision, but Expedia did.

References

External links

{{Travel ticket search engines 2000 establishments in France French travel websites International rail transport SNCF companies and subsidiaries Travel and holiday companies of France Internet properties established in 2000 Online travel agencies