French start-up Velvet, formerly known as Proxima, has obtained its railway undertaking licence from the Direction générale des infrastructures, des transports et des mobilités (DGITM), the company announced on 1 September. This is the first major regulatory approval on its path to launching high-speed services in 2028 between Paris and Bordeaux, Nantes, Angers and Rennes.
The licence enables Velvet to progress with path applications, secure infrastructure access agreements and develop its operating procedures. The company, co-founded in 2022 by Rachel Picard — former managing director of SNCF Voyages — and Tim Jackson, founder of Alpha Trains, is backed by Antin Infrastructure Partners, which plans to invest around €1 billion in the project’s first phase. Velvet is already working on its Safety Management System; the next regulatory step will be the Single Safety Certificate.
For its fleet, it has ordered twelve Alstom Avelia Horizon trainsets, the same platform that underpins SNCF’s future TGV M. The first unit was unveiled in April at Alstom’s La Rochelle plant and is undergoing static testing.
If it stays on schedule, Velvet would become the first private French operator to compete with SNCF on domestic high-speed lines, adding around 10 million seats per year in western France. Other aspirants to the liberalised market, such as Kevin Speed (delayed until 2030) and Le Train, have yet to certify their trains.