Thello is an open-access train operator running international services between France and Italy. Founded in 2011, the company is owned by the Italian state owned railway companyTrenitalia. Initially set up as a joint venture between Trenitalia and Transdev, the latter sold 33% holding in Thello to their Italian partner in 2016 giving Trenitalia full control. There is also a restaurant car operated by LSG Sky Chefs, where it is possible to have dinner and breakfast on board.
History
Thello is a French simplified joint company. The establishment took place after the cooperation between SNCF and Trenitalia which had previously operated jointly Artesia trains between Paris and Italy. It initially accounted for two-thirds of the shares in Trenitalia and a third on Transdev. Night trains run by Thello have operated daily since 11 December 2011 on the route between Paris-Gare de Lyon and Venice-Santa Lucia with stops in Dijon -Ville, Milan-Central, Brescia, Verona, Vicenza and Padua and Venice-Mestre. Cabotage, the carriage of national passengers on a leg of the international journey, has hitherto not been permitted by the Autorité de régulation des activités ferroviaires, the body which regulates free competition in the French rail network; tickets between Paris and Dijon are therefore not offered by Thello. Beginning on 9 December 2012, Thello restarted service between Paris and Rome, previously operated as Artesia, but the service was withdrawn as of 14 December 2013. A second night connection between France and Italy with Paris Gare de Lyon -Rome-Termini with stops in Dijon, Bologna and Florence for this option to work. Thello reported a loss of 30 million euros in 2012. The specific reason given was difficulties in obtaining timetable routes with attractive travel times. At the same time, however, Thello reiterated its desire to offer daily train services between Marseille and Milan starting in 2014, with stops in Genoa and Nice. In a decision of 9 July 2013, the ARAF confirmed that the proposed connection was compatible with the rules applicable in France to competitive international rail services and that it was not in competition with the TERs subsidised by the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region.
Regional trains
As of 14 December 2014, Thello also operates daytime trains between Milan and Marseille, via Genoa and Nice., which is compressed since 12 April 2015 by two more train pairs in the section between Nice and Milan. Since the beginning of 2013, the company has had the safety certificate required for traffic on the Belgian railway network. Thello had announced that they want to appear in direct competition with Thalys on the Paris-Brussels connection from 2014 onwards. To date, however, these plans have not materialised. In March 2016, Roberto Rinaudo - until then financial director of the passenger transport division of Trenitalia - took over the management of the company, replacing Albert Alday. On 6 September 2016 Trenitalia announced that it has taken over the share of Transdev and thus the company since then alone.
Initially the carriages are leased by Trenitalia while the locomotive is leased from Akiem by SNCF Geodis. The locomotives used are three-system SNCF Class BB 36000electric locomotives uprated from to operation in France to the Italian border. The sleeping-cars are type MU, a design originally created for the Wagons-Lits Company, built 1964-1974 but refurbished by Trenitalia in the mid-2000s when LED lighting & corridor CCTV were fitted and carpets removed. Each sleeping-car has 12 compartments with washbasin, each usable as single, double, or triple. Couchette cars are of various types and can be used as 4 berth or 6 berth. Thello night trains have three classes:
