In 2008 the President of Alstom Transport, Philippe Mellier, stated that an 'AGV Duplex' would be developed, and would become Alstom's double deck train offer (for SNCF) after the TGV 2N2. In June 2011 Les Échos reported that Alstom was developing a new high speed train, "AGV II" with a top speed of between , to be available as a single and a double deck version. The design was to utilise power/traction equipment in a single unit (locomotive) as previously used in the TGV design, rather than distributed traction. The traction locomotive design was thought to be aimed in part at orders from SNCF as early as 2014/5 or post 2015.