Travel 2016 – Tip 6 – Trains in France

Today was interesting. I had a lovely meander around sunny Avignon in the morning and a great walk in Montpellier in the late afternoon. I should have caught the 9:38am train to Montpellier, arriving at 10:44 am, but there is an SNCF strike, so guess how I travelled from Avignon to Montpellier in between my respective walks?

The answer is on a bus and then a train!

At Avignon, the 12:45 pm bus was overflowing and my large suitcase blocked the aisle as the luggage hold under the bus was full. Did SNCF put on an extra bus? No, they gave the impression of not caring about their passengers, so at least 7 people were standing on the bus or sitting in the aisle. The bus went to Nimes via Tarascon. The drive didn’t know the way and bypassed Tarascon altogether until some irate passengers persuaded him to turn back.

Once we were dumped at Nimes, there were no SNCF staff around. Everyone who was travelling beyond Nimes went into the station and there was a train scheduled for Narbonne at 14:12. The train, a Transport Express Regional or TER train, was starting from Nimes, yet contrived to be 35 minutes late? When it arrived all the passengers piled on board and we were off. The ride was smooth, the seating new, and the toilet very large and clean, with a washbasin that worked.

The tip of the day is as follows: if you are going to travel on the trains in France, my advice would be to travel only on the TGVs (Train a Grand Vitesse) as they do appear to run during strikes, even if they are late sometimes. Also, try and travel on Mondays and Fridays as those days aren’t chosen for strikes, at least not in this year’s strikes when Wednesdays and Thursdays have been targeted. There aren’t strikes every month, but there is a struggle between the Government and the train drivers regarding the maximum number of hours staff can be expected to work.

I have another trip next Wednesday, but I think it’s on a TGV, so let’s see what happens then.