---
title: "Back on Track: The TGV Train Turns 45 with Winter Seats to the Alps and Germany on Sale"
description: The TGV is 45. SNCF's anniversary sale has closed, but extra winter trains to the Alps, Alsace and Germany are on sale now.
author: Dr Marina Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
date: 2026-10-12T15:06:05.197Z
updated: 2026-10-12T15:06:05.209Z
canonical: https://richtravelmagazine.com/article/tgv-train-turns-45-winter-seats-alps-germany
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/pexels-high-speed-sncf-tgv-train-at-dol-de-bretagne-station-in-fran-38704906.jpg
categories: Smart Travel, Destinations
content_type: News
region: France, Europe
publication: Rich Travel Magazine
access: members
schema_type: Article
about:
  - type: Organization
    name: SNCF
    description: France's national railway, operator of TGV Inoui, Intercités and the Carte Avantage discount cards.
    url: https://www.sncf.com
    industry: Rail transport
---

The high-speed line from Paris to Lyon runs south-east across Burgundy, with stations for Le Creusot and Mâcon on the way, and ends in the city where the Saône meets the Rhône. On 27 September 1981 the first orange TGV in commercial service ran along it, five days after President François Mitterrand inaugurated the line. SNCF's own records put the fastest train between the two cities at 3 hours 46 minutes in 1980, and at two hours from 1984. In the 45 years since that first run, SNCF Voyageurs has carried more than three billion passengers on its high-speed trains.

SNCF Voyageurs marked the anniversary with a three-day sale, from 6 to 8 October, of [450,000 TGV INOUI tickets at 45 per cent off](https://www.sncf-voyageurs.com/fr/presse/sncf-voyageurs-celebre-les-45-ans-du-tgv-avec-une-vente-flash-anniversaire-et-un-jeu-concours/) in first and second class. The tickets were for travel between 16 October and 30 November on Paris to Lyon, and between 2 and 30 November on every other route in the offer: mainland France, Italy, Spain, Luxembourg and Brussels, Geneva on TGV Lyria, and Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe on the TGV INOUI and ICE trains run with Deutsche Bahn. The sale closed on 8 October, and no second round had been announced by 12 October. Sale tickets cannot be exchanged or refunded.

SNCF Voyageurs put its Christmas and winter timetable on sale on 30 September, for travel from 13 December, with extra services to the Alps, to the Christmas markets of Strasbourg and Colmar, and to Germany.

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