Jon Worth21h ago

8 years ago I was also taking a trip on French regional railways, and writing blog posts about it
https://jonworth.eu/sncf-is-this-public-service/

The only thing that's changed? The screenshots from DB's website to demonstrate the problem looked more ugly back then 🙂

SNCF. Is this public service?

My trip today, 10 April 2018: Toulouse (population: 467000, 1.3 million in the urban area) to Béziers (population: 75000). Distance 176km by train, 180km by road. Departure time: sometime around 1500. Towns along the route: Castelnaudary (population: 11000), Carcassonne (48000), Narbonne (53000). Beyond Béziers are Montpellier, Nîmes and Marseille.

Jon Worth
Show threadTom Tom20h ago

@jon well at least on this line, there is one train every hour at about the same time each hour, front 7am to 7pm which is decent for french standard. The Geneva ( 1 M inhabitants city and suburbs) to Lyon (1.5 M inhabitants city and suburbs)sees only one train every two hours (and it's also a knackered bumpy Alstom model).

So yes should it be better, but at least it is one of the better ones.

(But yes on swiss standard it'd run from 6 to 22h once an hour and every 30 min from 7 to 19)

Show threadJon Worth
@tomtom right. Lyon - Genève is a disgrace. The trains are also knackered.
Mar 28 at 10:16amWeb
Show threadسيد السكك17h ago

@jon @tomtom I took the train between Zürich and Barcelona last year, and the most uncomfortable aspect by far was the leg between Genève and Lyon. The trains have seen better days, and I feel are very undersized considering the populations and proximity of the two cities.

This, the lack of coordinated timetables upon arrival in Lyon, and the surprisingly few trains to Barcelona per day left a bad impression on me of French rail. I fully agree with everything you have written on this.