Velvet plans to start operating its first high-speed trains with IVU.rail
Berlin/Paris, 30th September 2026 | The rail operator Velvet is set to board the French high-speed rail market from 2028 and will entrust IVU.rail for comprehensive planning and dispatch of vehicles and personnel. Another success for IVU Traffic Technologies AG in the growing French market.
Velvet, France’s first independent high-speed transport operator, is establishing itself on the French market and will offer around ten million additional seats annually on the Atlantic coast from 2028. The twelve high-speed trains of Alstom’s new Avelia Horizon type will connect Bordeaux, Nantes, Angers and Rennes with Paris, thereby providing additional capacity on these highly sought-after routes.
IVU.rail will take over the necessary planning and dispatch. The integrated software combines timetable planning and vehicle working/duty scheduling, as well as vehicle and personnel dispatch, into a single system. Via the control centre, Velvet also retains close oversight of day-to-day operations and can react fast in the event of any disruptions. As a Software-as-a-Service solution, IVU.rail can be flexibly adjusted to the growing requests of railway operations.
“We offer climate-friendly transport to people in France,” explains Rachel Picard, President and Co-Founder of Velvet. “Our aim is to redesign high-speed train travel in France. Therefore, we focus on our customers’ needs and on new ways of travelling. With IVU.rail, we have a system that has been tried and tested by many rail operators, which helps us to prepare the processes for our future operations at an early stage and to deliver our services with reliability.”
“We are proud to accompany Velvet as it moves towards the launch of a new and ambitious high-speed transport service,” says Martin Müller-Elschner, Chief Executive of IVU Traffic Technologies. “With Velvet, we are gaining another customer in the French rail transport sector and continuing our successful track record in a key growth market.”
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IVU Traffic Technologies has been working for 50 years with more than 1,000 experts to ensure efficient and environmentally friendly public transport. The integrated standard products of the IVU.suite map all the processes of bus and rail companies: from planning and dispatch to operations controls, ticketing and passenger information to the settlement of transport contracts. By working in close partnership with our customers, we achieve success with challenging projects and ensure reliable mobility in the world‘s metropolises.
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