SNCF/Corail/Normandy/Paris

[Gilbert]

I hope to be in Normandy for a week in September and was looking into a possible trip by train from Deauville or Caen to Paris and wondered if anyone here had any advice/knowledge/experience of the railways in that part of France either as a traveller or enthusiast.

Merci

Chris

[Gordonwis]

I hope to be in Normandy for a week in September and was looking into a possible trip by train from Deauville or Caen to Paris and wondered if anyone here had any advice/knowledge/experience of the railways in that part of France either as a traveller or enthusiast.

Merci

Chris

 

 

That's quite an open question - what do you want to know?

[AMJ]

Usual place to go if you are looking on timings is www.bahn.co.uk as that can give you times for most of Europe and beyond. Putting in your departure poing and destination and you can see how easy or hard it is to get there.

 

I stayed in Lille (twin town Leeds) once and bought tickets on the direct TGV to Paris. It was an hourly non stop train that took an hour - by road it's c170 miles.

[Fat Controller]

I hope to be in Normandy for a week in September and was looking into a possible trip by train from Deauville or Caen to Paris and wondered if anyone here had any advice/knowledge/experience of the railways in that part of France either as a traveller or enthusiast.

Merci

Chris

Long time since I used that route- it was in the days of 'Turbotrains'- but it's still largely a loco-hauled service,nowadays electrified, and not particularily fast. I'd go from Caen, rather than Deauville, as the service is probably more frequent. If you are staying closer to Deauville, think about using Liseux, which is the junction between the Paris- Cherbourg main line and the Deauville branch. The lines in the Normandy area have a familiar 'British' feel to them (especially in terms of loading gauge...), as many were built by British engineers, notably Thomas Brassey.

If you want to spend some time watching trains go by, break your journey at Mantes-la-Jolie, where the Cherbourg and Le Havre lines join. There isn't much freight on the former, but the Le Havre line should have a bit- though the last time I went down it, in the cab, my driver friend kept pointing out the light engines heading east and saying which trains they were running in the path of.

Depending where you're staying, it might be an idea to go to Honfleur and take a river cruise from the harbour- we did this with m-i-l a few years ago- as you get spectacular views of the Pont-du-Normandie and of ships at the new container terminal at Le Havre.

[wollastonblue]

If you have a look on:

 

http://www.tgv-europ...nited%20Kingdom

 

That should give you times and prices, and also indicates the types of train you will be travelling on.

 

Cheers

[Gilbert]

Long time since I used that route- it was in the days of 'Turbotrains'- but it's still largely a loco-hauled service,nowadays electrified, and not particularily fast. I'd go from Caen, rather than Deauville, as the service is probably more frequent. If you are staying closer to Deauville, think about using Liseux, which is the junction between the Paris- Cherbourg main line and the Deauville branch. The lines in the Normandy area have a familiar 'British' feel to them (especially in terms of loading gauge...), as many were built by British engineers, notably Thomas Brassey.

If you want to spend some time watching trains go by, break your journey at Mantes-la-Jolie, where the Cherbourg and Le Havre lines join. There isn't much freight on the former, but the Le Havre line should have a bit- though the last time I went down it, in the cab, my driver friend kept pointing out the light engines heading east and saying which trains they were running in the path of.

Depending where you're staying, it might be an idea to go to Honfleur and take a river cruise from the harbour- we did this with m-i-l a few years ago- as you get spectacular views of the Pont-du-Normandie and of ships at the new container terminal at Le Havre.

 

Many thanks for that - really useful - we are staying near Deauville but happy to drive to a station. From what I can find on relevant websites the service from Deauville is limited.

Chris

[Gilbert]

That's quite an open question - what do you want to know?

 

Anything anybody here knows and considers relevant to using the trains in that part of the world. I'd be glad of any advice!

 

Chris

[Fat Controller]

Many thanks for that - really useful - we are staying near Deauville but happy to drive to a station. From what I can find on relevant websites the service from Deauville is limited.

Chris

Deauville struck me as being a bit like a British seaside resort in the pre-Beeching era, with quite a few platforms and trains standing by for hours on end- there's even a branch from the branch serving the resort of Dives- Cabourg, which has a very limited seasonal service.

[Gilbert]

If you have a look on:

 

http://www.tgv-europ...nited%20Kingdom

 

That should give you times and prices, and also indicates the types of train you will be travelling on.

 

Cheers

 

I'm struggling with this link - could you re-post?

Cheers

Chris

[LN Lancs]

Here's the link to the SNCF TER page for Deauville:

 

Deauville

 

If you click on "Fiches horaires" that will give you the timetable to Paris St Lazare, doesn't look too bad a service.

[Fat Controller]

Here's the link to the SNCF TER page for Deauville:

 

Deauville

 

If you click on "Fiches horaires" that will give you the timetable to Paris St Lazare, doesn't look too bad a service.

Though I would recommend reading all the footnotes- apparently, the Paris- Cherbourg line has the most of any major route in France. I've been caught out before, in another part of France, when I didn't realise that what was a train on certain dates turned out to be a bus (leaving from some distance from the station) on others.

[wollastonblue]

Try this:

 

http://www.tgv-europe.com/en/

 

Cheers

[Gordonwis]

Try this:

http://www.tgv-europe.com/en/

Cheers

 

 

The service from Deauville isn’t that bad by SNCF branch line standards, with four through trains to/from Paris, but as has been said you can also travel from Lisieux or Caen. From Caen the service is approximately hourly, with variations (fewer from Lisieux as they like to run trains Caen - Paris non stop). AS has also been said the Paris – Cherbourg line has always had a hideously complex variations in service from day to day.

 

My erstwhile boss, a legendary Editor of the Cook’s Continental Timetable dubbed it (in print in the Cooks itself!) “the most complicated train service in Europeâ€

 

The Normandy network is France last real network of loco hauled corail trains, so it’s getting quite unique in a way.

 

 

I like the 'Gares en Mouvement' website, which has great detail in English including lifelike 'departure boards' and I notice that for Deauville there is even the info that there is a defibrillator available in the station

 

The station details and departure boards links:

link 1

link 2

 

Deauville Paris timetable leaflet

Cherbourg - Caen - Paris timetable leaflet

 

info in french about normandy corails

[Gilbert]

The service from Deauville isn’t that bad by SNCF branch line standards, with four through trains to/from Paris, but as has been said you can also travel from Lisieux or Caen. From Caen the service is approximately hourly, with variations (fewer from Lisieux as they like to run trains Caen - Paris non stop). AS has also been said the Paris – Cherbourg line has always had a hideously complex variations in service from day to day.

 

My erstwhile boss, a legendary Editor of the Cook’s Continental Timetable dubbed it (in print in the Cooks itself!) “the most complicated train service in Europeâ€

 

The Normandy network is France last real network of loco hauled corail trains, so it’s getting quite unique in a way.

 

 

I like the 'Gares en Mouvement' website, which has great detail in English including lifelike 'departure boards' and I notice that for Deauville there is even the info that there is a defibrillator available in the station

 

The station details and departure boards links:

link 1

link 2

 

Deauville Paris timetable leaflet

Cherbourg - Caen - Paris timetable leaflet

 

info in french about normandy corails

 

Thanks for this

Chris

[alcazar]

I'm assuming you've BEEN on an SNCF train before? If not, don't forget to validate your ticket at the platform entrance using the little machine that stands there. Just slip the ticket in and it stamps it.

 

Failure so to do is an offence and can end up in a fine, depending on how understanding the conducter on the train is.