I'm not that bothered if SNCF Connect is forced to sell Trenitalia tickets, but someone has to be able to offer me both

It has been kicking off in the French Senate in the past few days on the topic of railway ticketing. The Senate wants to force SNCF Connect, the French state incumbent railway’s ticketing platform, to sell tickets for trains run by SNCF’s competitors on French routes – such as Trenitalia, Renfe and European Sleeper.

Senator Franck Dhersin (centre right – HOR) even went as far as to brand SNCF’s attitude to the Senate’s work as disgraceful:

Given the SDBTR Regulation that is to be proposed by the European Commission next month is also going to try to unpack this topic, these discussions in the Senate foreshadow EU level battles to come.

But let’s take a step back from the Senator’s emotive language and ask: should SNCF Connect even be forced to sell a competitor’s tickets?

But to answer that, the core point is this: customers need a place or, better still, places where they can compare all the offers of all operators, and internationally as well as nationally.

Those places could be incumbents’ platforms like SNCF Connect or DB Navigator, or could be third party platforms like Trainline or Railfinder. I really do not mind. The only thing that matters is that a customer can compare all the offers, and tickets can be purchased for the best price.

The problem is that while SNCF is resisting the Senate’s efforts to force it to sell rival firms’ tickets, it is also working against the alternative – namely allowing anyone else to build comparison platforms. SNCF is steadily reducing the commission it will pay to third parties that re-sell its tickets – this commission has dropped from 2.9% in 2024 to 2.7% from mid 2026, barely enough for third party platforms to cover their credit card fees.

Given the long standing nightmares that is SNCF Connect’s interface, I would genuinely appreciate there being alternatives where I could book any rail ticket in France. And that, ultimately, is why I would favour solving this by addressing the level of commission SNCF (and indeed anyone else) will pay to third parties – because then multiple different ticketing platforms can develop. That strikes me as a better way of solving this problem than imposing an obligation on SNCF Connect.

But what ultimately is the honte, the disgrace, here, is that SNCF is currently trying to have it both ways – it is against having to sell other operators’ tickets and it is also reducing commissions paid to third parties. That position is obviously untenable.