pedestrian cyclistWhat is this station for France? Was building this worth it? It's 5km outside the city, left and right are fields, and it's quite empty. :-(
It's like if someone wanted to have Japanese style #HSR but was really bad at it.
- It's too far outside the city
- It's not well connected to the city
- They don't really commit to running all trains through this new station, but many still go to the one in the city centre. (reasonable)
- The BANGER: It's purpose is that trains can go faster. But the one I entered there had a scheduled(!) stop time of more than 15 Minutes. (That's the train between Paris and Barcelona. 🤯 )
- It's too far outside the city
- It's not well connected to the city
- They don't really commit to running all trains through this new station, but many still go to the one in the city centre. (reasonable)
- The BANGER: It's purpose is that trains can go faster. But the one I entered there had a scheduled(!) stop time of more than 15 Minutes. (That's the train between Paris and Barcelona. 🤯 )
Another case for this point:
For their new TGV M ( https://www.euronews.com/travel/2025/03/13/a-two-storey-bar-and-more-leg-room-inside-frances-new-high-speed-tgv-trains ) they made their "restaurant car" self service. Seriously, what even is the point here? Just go all the way like the Japanese Shinkansen and sell quality stuff on the platform. Then you can use the carriage space for passengers.
Also: FFS, drop the bi-level shit. It's annoying with any reasonable amount of luggage.
They seem to have the same approach for bicycle space. Looks like they had to check a box, but don't want you to actually take your bike. ( https://www.hourrail.voyage/en/blog/tgv-m-decouverte-des-amenagements-interieurs )
Just decide: Either go the German way of carriages where bikes can be removed independently. Or go the Japanese way of forcing everyone to bag their bikes. With a little bit more luggage space.
The undecided mix of approaches their doing makes their railways just more miserable for everyone.
