France's high-speed TGV train service is to be renamed "inOui" - photo by SNCF

The French rail system will open two substantial new high-speed TGV routes on July 2:

• The new TGV Sud Europe Atlantique extension from Tours to Bordeaux.
• The new LGV Bretagne-Pays de la Loire extension from Le Mans to Rennes.

The next minor extension will branch off the Bordeaux line toward Tolouse. The French have at least temporarily postponed further extensions from Paris to the Spanish border and along the Riviera.

Also, for some reason only the French can understand, the rail system will “rebrand” the high-speed trains from TGV to inOui. Now, there’s real rail news!

— Ed Perkins, editor

For more travel tips from Ed Perkins, see our companion site Ed on Travel