If you’re hoping to travel around Europe on a budget this summer, there’s good news from France.
Thousands of cheap train fares are now on sale for a fixed price.
It is part of French minister for transport Clément Beaune’s push to make it cheaper to travel by train.
He described the sale as “extremely simple and extremely powerful.”
France launches €19 train fares
Thousands of cheap train tickets have gone on sale today and will be on sale until 15 July.
There are 200,000 tickets available and fares are set at the fixed price of €19.
The tickets are valid on all Intercités lines for journeys between 7 July and 31 August. These fares normally cost travellers around €35 in summer.
The Intercités network is mainly centred around Paris but also has connections between Nantes and Lyon, Nantes and Bordeaux, Toulouse and Marseille and Bordeaux and Marseille.
On each Intercités journey, there will be a set number of seats available at €19 so don’t wait around to buy tickets.
The reductions have been financed by the state as a way of helping holidaymakers save money.
Intercités trains carry around 12 million people a year, according to the transport ministry.
That’s much less than France’s TGV trains, which transported 23 million people last summer, but the state cannot alter the prices of high-speed rail fares.
Public transport discounts in France
France is also launching other schemes to reduce the price of train tickets. By next summer, the transport ministry hopes to introduce a single pass for young people.
The pass will be valid on all public transport including Intercités trains, TER trains and buses.
It hopes to follow the example of some regional and national discounts already in place.
Germany introduced a €49 monthly train pass earlier this year which proved to be very popular. In Occitania in France, under 26s are eligible for TER train tickets at €1 from 14 July to 15 August.
Cheap train fares in Europe
Last month, Spain slashed prices of Interrail tickets for under 30s. The discounted tickets are available to Spanish residents until 15 September.
Young people can also take advantage of 90 per cent reductions on state-run buses and short-to-medium distance trains.
Deutsche Bahn, Germany's national rail service, has launched €9.90 tickets on some short-distance routes.
The limited sale is on until 31 July and valid for shorter journeys on ICE trains.