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David Mascorda et Guillaume de Marcillac, les deux fondateurs de Pegasus Trains - Crédit photo : Emile Rivet

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Nobody knows it, or almost, but the SNCF is not the only French railway company operating on our soil.

In fact, lurking in the shadow of its big sister, there is nevertheless a company that owns a train and has been running since winter 2025.

At its head, a familiar face in the tourism industry: Guillaume de Marcillac. He is known as the former CEO of TravelFactory and as a former financial head of Egencia and Karavel-Promovacances. He now wears the hat of train chief, leading Pegasus Trains.

After a first trial run with his previous employer during the launch of the Travelski Express, to redeploy the Eurostar between London and Bourg-Saint-Maurice, Guillaume de Marcillac decided to take off and thus create his own railway company.

The first challenge was to find rolling stock. “We combed across Europe to find owners willing to lease cars and a locomotive. It required a lot of work to locate and negotiate equipment coming from different places.

Our dining car comes from the Netherlands, the sleeping cars come from Baden-Württemberg, and the locomotive from France.

There are very substantial entry barriers in rail, which explains the very small number of new entrants“, explains the fortunate cofounder of Pegasus Trains and owner of a train set.

Pegasus Trains: “We are in slow travel,” not a high-speed train

The second hurdle was securing homologation to run the trainset in France.

“We are a railway company, but I do not use the term ‘railway company’, which is a legal term. Indeed, there are three statuses in the railway world.

The first is that of an authorized candidate, which means you are recognized as credible by SNCF Réseau and SNCF Gares & Connexions. You are an official interlocutor for these companies.

The second status is called the railway license. A bit like the registration for travel agencies, it is a recognition granted by the Ministry of Transport and Bercy, based on having sufficiently strong equity and certain management characteristics.

The last grade, the highest, is the security certificate of the railway company. It is a complex process, which takes time to obtain,” he explains.

To read: Rail Charter Service: what if you charter trains?

With the license in hand, Pegasus Trains thus cannot have its trains operated by its own crews. The company must recruit staff who hold this certificate.

To find drivers, it is enough to go through SNCF or freight operators also authorized to carry passengers. There are also European operators whose core business is to hold this safety certificate, as is the case with European Sleeper.

“We are in a sense an orchestrator, with the equipment on one side, the locomotive on the other and the driver. We assemble all these building blocks.

We are also in slow travel. We do not offer high speed, like TGVs or Frecciarossa. We can, in one night, travel 1,300 km.”

Pegasus Trains: “We will have two train sets in operation” by the end of 2026

Pegasus Train devrait sortir de la montagne pour desservir le littoral l'été prochain - Crédit photo : Pegasus Trains

Thus, Pegasus Trains offers a journey that is slower than the TGV, but with the merit of being decarbonized.

Each train set has a capacity of between 300 and 650 passengers, depending on client needs. It includes a dining car.

The trains have an international vocation, even though they cannot travel to the United Kingdom, as the Channel Tunnel requires very specific features reserved for Eurostar.

“These are trains that have already been renovated by their owner, with whom we have an agreement for the long term.

The rolling stock is not our property, so we cannot make modifications. However, it is possible for us to do a lot of exterior and interior decoration. Our trains also serve as a communication platform“, continues Guillaume de Marcillac.

Consequently, the train becomes a marketing element for destinations and tour operators, such as Travelski.

Duly noted, buoyed by this success, after two winters of chartering for the winter-sports tour operator, the railway company aims to grow its fleet.

“Our vision is that, gradually, our fleet will grow and our project is to gradually own our own trains, which we will renovate ourselves. That takes time.

Starting at the end of 2026, we will ramp up and have two train sets in operation, rather than the single one we have today

TourMaG – The fact that your daughter is taking over the business, does that make you an entrepreneur and a happy father ?

José Martinez : Yes, obviously. It’s a real joy. As a father, being able to hand down the company we created 35 years ago is a great satisfaction.

We work very well together with Laura, which is very positive. She has been in the company for almost eight years and we have not had any disagreements. That’s an important point.

As an entrepreneur too, this is excellent news. In a career, there inevitably comes a moment when one approaches the end of one’s professional journey. Often the last years before retirement are quieter: the leaders let the company run and slow down the development.

The fact that Laura expressed her willingness to take over the company and to continue its development has completely changed my own mindset. It has rekindled my desire to restart the growth dynamic.

This is especially reflected by the opening of the Bordeaux agency and by a very strong commercial development in the TMC activity. We also rely on what differentiates us: our own SBT tool. Today, it is on the market and allows us to win many new accounts. Between 2025 and 2026, we have already confirmed a growth of more than 30% thanks to these new contracts. It is very positive.

A also to see the interview of Laura Martinez, CEO of Amplitudes on TourMaG’s TV platform.

TourMaG – Precisely, you mention your SBT, eYoma. What are the strengths of this solution and its development prospects?

José Martinez : The development prospects are very significant.

One of the strengths of eYoma is its very recent technology. It is a cloud-native tool that makes it easy to connect the platform to different systems: those of our clients, expense reporting tools, and suppliers.

For example, we are directly connected to Air France to offer the entire NDC offering at no extra cost, including without the GDS surcharge that exists. We are also connected to PAO to directly access the SNCF offer and all of its features, without going through an intermediary.

We also have a connection with Distribution, an international rail provider, which allows us to offer cross-border and trans-European journeys. With eYoma, it is possible to book routes such as Prague–Budapest, Vienna–Munich or Rome–Milan.

We are also connected to Travelfusion to access the entire global low-cost offer. In practical terms, you can book a low-cost carrier on the other side of the world, even in China.

The tool has been developed with very recent technologies. It is hosted entirely in France on OVH servers, which guarantees a high level of security. In a context where digital sovereignty is becoming an important topic, we can ensure 100% French hosting.

eYoma, a multi-traveler and multi-service tool

TourMaG – How did you design this tool?

José Martinez : When we began developing eYoma, I gathered my account managers and asked them to list all the client requests that we could not address with market tools.

That list became the project’s roadmap. Today, when we present our SBT to our clients, they are often surprised by how many of the issues they face we have already resolved. It’s a tool that is popular and helps us win markets.

It isn’t just an SBT. Behind it there is also eYoma Pro, the tool used by our agents. This enables a complete integration between online and offline.

For our teams, the tool is designed around our needs: priority management, task sharing among colleagues, alert systems to track travel progress.

eYoma is also a multi-traveler and multi-service tool. Unlike many SBTs on the market that charge per PNR and limit files to a single traveler, we do not have that constraint. We can therefore include several travelers in one file and group all the travel services together.

Eventually, we will also integrate the possibility of paying for certain services directly via virtual cards created by our clients to manage their travel expenses.

The development possibilities are therefore very numerous.

Amplitudes, “the only TMC in France to own its own technology”

TourMaG – Amplitudes started with bespoke travel, then business travel and now technology. Could you become a technology company?

José Martinez : Becoming a technology company, yes, to some extent. In fact, I think we already are.

This is probably the future of TMCs. In France, we are currently the only TMC to own our own technology. Others rely on external solutions. Yet this model already exists in other countries.

In England, Germany or the United States, several major players have their own technologies. For example, Navan or Perk. We are aligned with this logic.

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About twenty years ago, call centers operated entirely with human teams. With the advent of SBT tools, the share of human intervention gradually decreased to around 50%. Today, thanks to capable tools, adoption rates approach 90%. Tomorrow, with the development of artificial intelligence, this figure should rise even further and could reach 95%, or more.

“We are among the French TMCs that want and have the means to internationalize”

“Our vision is more of Amplitudes Worldwide”

TourMaG – Would this internationalization go more through partnerships or through establishments? You also imply that without a large account you could not make the leap.

José Martinez : We are ready to develop internationally if we are given the time and the opportunity. But I am not a strong advocate of partnerships.

Since the beginning, in our leisure activity, we chose not to resell third-party products. We have our own production team and trips we design ourselves, with a high level of mastery and quality control. For the TMC, the logic is the same, with the development of our own SBT.

The day we cross this threshold, I think it will more likely be through direct establishments and full control of what we do. Our technology tool is already ready for this: it is multilingual and can connect to different systems like Sabre or Amadeus. It could therefore work internationally.

Our vision is therefore more that of Amplitudes Worldwide, rather than operating with networks or partners. Networks often pose several difficulties: governance, uniformity of service, data consolidation. These are complex issues when governance is dispersed.

“My analysis, the GDSs have won the battle of the NDC”

TourMaG – You want to keep control…

José Martinez : Exactly. We want to preserve this control.

TourMaG – A word on the NDC, a hot topic in recent years. Where does it stand today? Air France announces rising adoption rates.

José Martinez : Contrary to what the GDSs initially thought, the NDC has ultimately established itself. It is still a relatively young technology that sometimes encounters difficulties, but it is progressing.

Today, for example in our eYoma tool, we pull in both GDS content and NDC content. The NDC share represents about 70% of bookings, which is already very significant, especially for corporate clients. The main reason is simple: fares are often more advantageous.

Features are also improving. Today you can modify a ticket, change a date or destination. It happens that some fare conditions do not surface correctly or some fares appear and then disappear, but that is quite normal for a technology still maturing. Airline booking remains a very complex system.

Moreover, GDSs have regained an important place in this ecosystem. Today there are very wide NDC offerings in Amadeus or Sabre. In a sense, they have managed to re-enter the race, whereas airlines initially hoped to free themselves from it thanks to NDC. My analysis nonetheless is that the GDSs have won the NDC battle.

In the French market, the majority of NDC bookings today go through GDSs, except for some companies like ours that have a culture of difference by choosing direct connection.

For us, it makes sense, especially with Air France which represents about half of our air sales. Just as we found it relevant to connect directly to PAO because 95% of our rail sales today are with SNCF.

We probably will not connect directly to every airline, because GDSs or certain aggregators do a very good job of handling that. However, being directly connected to Air France allows us to offer exactly the same fares and the same offer as on the airline’s site.

This also answers a growing demand for transparency. We can even commit to our clients: if they find a cheaper fare at the same time and under the same conditions, we refund the difference.

Electronic invoicing: the return of commissions ?

TourMaG – You know the issues around electronic invoicing, notably the question of margins that could become completely transparent. Could it change the business travel business model?

José Martinez : For us, the question of margins does not pose an immediate risk.

If an airline grants us a negotiated fare, I am talking about a fare negotiated by Amplitudes, not corporate-negotiated fares, on which we apply a margin, there may be a discrepancy between the invoice sent by the airline and ours. That can create a form of distortion.

The question is therefore how the model will evolve. Perhaps some agencies will ask airlines to revert to a commission system rather than operating with negotiated agency fares. That is a possibility.

These negotiated fares are an integral part of agencies’ business models. Regulatory changes should not undermine this balance. But if the objective is to move toward more transparency, a return to commission could indeed be a solution.

TourMaG – What are Amplitudes’ objectives for 2026 and the vision for the coming years?

José Martinez : For the TMC part, we already know that the accounts won will ensure a growth of between 15 and 20 points. That’s very good news.

We also began the year with a very positive momentum in leisure activity, even if some events slowed this momentum. Despite that, I think 2026 will be a year of growth. Our objective is clearly to maintain double-digit growth.

Amplitudes is a company built from scratch, without initial capital, and which has gradually grown on solid foundations, with high growth rates.

This year again, we have received two important distinctions: a Financial Times award for high-growth European companies and a distinction from Les Échos, which also published an article about our post-Covid growth.

Our vision remains that of a company in motion. We do not want to be a static enterprise. We want to continue integrating sector evolutions, such as artificial intelligence, explore new destinations and invent new ways to travel.

On our scale, we also try to contribute to the positive image of travel agencies: a committed agency for its clients, whether individuals or businesses, capable of negotiating the best conditions with providers.

The vision we share today with Laura is clear: continue to develop Amplitudes to make it a European company in the near future, and perhaps an international company in the medium term.

Published by Céline Eymery Editor-in-Chief – TourMaG.com
See all articles by Céline Eymery

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