We all know that France has an excellent train system, the TGV, that whistles passengers from city to city at high speed and in great comfort. What you may not realise is that not everywhere in France is on a TGV high speed train line and things don’t always run quite as smoothly as the French train adverts would have you believe.
We haven’t been exposed much to French trains (there aren’t any near here) but with daughter 1 starting at Lyon university we have discovered a whole new world, strangely reminiscent of my days as a London commuter.
For those whose French geography is a bit rusty, remember that Lyon and the Dordogne are both at opposite sides of the south of France (Lyon is to the east in the Rhone-Alps, and the Dordogne is to the west). Although they are several hundred kilometres apart there is no TGV line that comes close to operating between the two.
The good news is that a direct train does operate between Lyon and Perigueux (Dordogne), which daughter has now used several times. The bad news is that the trains are rickety bone shakers rather than the comfortable express trains you have seen on the television whistling along at great speeds.
Before you book your interrail holiday to France I thought I would share her recent experiences of the French train system with you…
Train journey 1
The first journey didn’t go quite as planned. The train company had sold tickets for the train, individually marked with seat numbers, as you might expect. Unfortunately they decided it would be a good idea to sell each seat two or three times, so more than half the passengers embarking on the six hour journey found their seats already occupied and had to sit on the floor.
Daughter tells me there was quite a lot of discussion about who got the seats. For example, if an elderly person and a pregnant mum-to-be had both paid for the same seat who should get priority?
Luckily daughter didn’t need get involved in the heated exchanges because university students going home for Christmas don’t qualify in any way as ‘special needs’ passengers and just had to accept their floor space graciously.
Train Journey 2
Received a text message from daughter happily telling us that this time she had boarded the train, found her seat, and was sat with a group of friendly students. A pleasure that lasted until the train driver announced that ‘the train to Bourg-en-Bresse will be leaving shortly’. Unfortunately she didn’t want to go to Bourg-en-Bresse.
She tells us she created havoc by attempting to get off the train just as it about to leave, generally bumping into old folk, treading on small children and knocking people’s coffee cups on the floor.
I was never quite sure if it was a problem with the information board being incorrect or a problem with daughter being daft. Best not to ask I thought.
Train journey 3
Homeward bound again last week, daughter rang from Lyon station. “There is a power cut here” she said, “and none of the information boards is working at all. I don’t know which train to catch!”
To make matters worse the lifts between the platforms were also out of order due to the power failure. She tells us that old people were sobbing, families were running around like headless chickens and school children trying to get home were generally creating panic. The train station staff had decided it was easier to hide than to try and cope with the mayhem.
The poor chap in the coffee shop, who of course knew nothing about train times, was the closest anyone could find to ‘staff’ and was inundated with questions he couldn’t hope to answer.
Daughter did eventually find her train (by checking individual trains on the platforms that she knew that trains to Perigueux usually went from). When she got off the train she rushed straight passed me to go to the station toilets. I asked if there were no toilets on the train.
A drunken old chap had been lying across the doorway of the toilets for the entire journey, she told me, demanding money from anyone who wanted to use them, so she decided to wait. Happy interrail holidays in France!!
Remember the old saying ” Its best by bus”. Yet again this story confirms its best by car. I am not a fan of public transport and avoid at all costs.It should be left for students and people who are too old or cannot drive. Still a train journy is always interesting when your daughter is traveling.
Get the plane, easyjet from nice to toulouse (which is not too far) last looked at prices in April for less than 20euros each way. Faster and cheaper !!!
France will continue to invest billions into a poorly run inefficent slow railway, and eventually the low cost airlines will out do them. Why has France no Low cost airline, perfectly positioned in central europe it should rule the skies. But then efficientcy and prifitability seems to go against their principals.
Not sure how much quicker it would be – Nice is about 5 hours drive from Lyon (don’t know about the trains), then she’d need to get from the train statin to the airport, not to mention getting there an hour early for check-in and we’d have to collect her from Toulouse so a 2 1/2 hour drive at this end instead of 1 1/4 to Perigueux. Overall about the same time perhaps?
Nothing would make me happier than seeing France get a good network of cheap flights – Lyon to Bergerac anyone? Have buggs car hire never thought of branching out into the airline business?
Just an idea, always worth a regular look at the routes by the low costers as they regularly change and sometimes you may just find a suitable route. Here at buggs car hire we have not yet considered an airline, but howabout buying your lovely daughter an x hire car, we have loads to sell and she would i am sure it would be appreciated.
Nice idea, just a couple of small obstacles: (1) I’m too poor – or perhaps I’m just too mean (2) she lives in the centre of Lyon so would never drive a car usually and (3) she hasn’t passed her driving test…so we’re stuck with trains and planes for the time being
I am Not being very helpful with my suggestions, so guess the train will have to take the strain for a bit longer. I seem to find this sort of thing happens alot with France, when they have a great global reputation for something, but in reality the reputation is based on a very small percentage. They seem to lack “strength in depth” with things and reputations should be more than surface deep. Any way just wait till the new london-Birmingham fast link is open that will show the world how to run a railway???
Friends are flying out to visit us in Costa Rica.
Booking a flight…no problem!
Getting to an airport from la France Profonde…. something else!
Seem to remember when I was at university in Lyon taking a trip by train to Grenoble, not too far away I thought, and having used the TGV from Paris to Lyon thought what a wonderful train system this is as advertised. A couple of hours later I felt like my bones had been shaken more than if I had skiied down the mountain in summer when there was no snow on it, just rocks. At least I got a seat though. Good luck to your daughter on her next journey!
Hi, just a thought (a slightly worried one, as my eldest daughter will be gearing up for this kind of exercise in a couple of years).
Have you looked at buses at all? At least in Herault, we have quite a good system (currently at 1€ the journey !); and I believe there are some longer range networks. It would probably mean at least one change, but the staff (if any), other passengers and waiting bus drivers at the gares routières are usually pretty helpful I have found. It would undoubtedly mean a circuitous route but one does get a seat.
Good luck anyway, Andrew
Hi Andrew, we have no local bus service around here but ‘cross country coaches’ might well exist between somewhere near here and Lyon – I’ll look into it, thanks for the suggestion.
I USE THE SNCF EVERY DAY FOR THE LAST 5 YEARS, AND I CAN UNDERSTAND WHY YOUR DAUGHTER HAS HAD PROBLEMS GETTING HOME FROM LYON PART DIEU.
I deposited two of my daughters friends at the bus stop in a town just 2kms from us, they were going to change buses in Toulouse to get a shuttle to the airport. I waited to wave them off. They paid just 5 euros each for their tickets for an 80km journey. There was only one other passenger on a 50 seater bus, but it saved me a 3 hour round trip. It gladdened the heart and made me happy to be a French tax payer if this is an example of a heavily subsidised service. It’s not all bad.
I just remember one of your writing comparing university system between France and the UK, resulting of course in favour of the UK one, with one famous argument: at least in the UK it exists a true student life, because once you are within the walls of the university, you are part of it, and you do not escape every week-end back to your old family home.
… er, uh… !? how u doing, what about your schizoid treatment, still okay?
But yes I understand that it is so unrestrainable with 1 story to shoot at France twice, sure so thrilling to make fun of French university system and train system in 1 basket.
Do as I say and not as I do…
Hi Dominique, glad you’re still around.
If I lived in Germany, Italy, the UK or anywhere else I would be the same about them. No train system (or university system or person or country) is perfect or beyond criticism!
Other people’s comments above seem to support the idea there is sometimes a problem with the train service in France – but I commuted into London to work for many years and can assure you I’m not about to start singing the praises of the English train system either. I wish I could have back the hours I spent standing on crowded platforms waiting for cancelled trains or standing on trains stuck outside Slough because of points failures…and the money I spent on over-priced season tickets.