TGV losing speed

"SNCF is planning to cut some TGV high-speed train services in 2011," announces Les Echos. In response to a fall-off in profits, France's national rail services provider, one of the country's largest public companies, will reduce the frequency of trains on certain lines, and possibly terminate some direct inter-city links. Most of the cuts will focus on inter-regional services that do not pass through Paris, notably Lille-Strasbourg and Bordeaux-Strasbourg links. According to the business daily, 20 % of TGV services are now losing money. "The financial golden age of the TGV is at an end," remarks Les Echos, which cites the economic crisis and the increased tolls paid by SNCF for the use of rail infrastructure as the reasons for the adjustment. SNCF immediately responded by formally denying the existence of plans to cut back on TGV services in 2010, however, the rail services operator did not exclude the possibility of such a move "in a more long-term context."