Gare de l'Est - August 2017

[Joseph_Pestell]

I have just been contacted by a friend in Aus who is trying to arrange a journey from Paris to Reims on 12 August. She has been onto SNCF website, as I have now, and there don't seem to be any trains running from Gare de l'Est - whether by LGV or conventional route. Various other odd routes (e.g. via Dijon) are proposed.

 

Have we missed something e.g. bookings by sensible routes not being open until 3 months before? Or is there an unparalleled total blockade of Gare de l'Est for some reason?

[Joseph_Pestell]

Trains available on Friday 11 but not on Monday 14 or Tuesday 15 (a public holiday). So it looks like a blockade.

[ianp]

I have just been contacted by a friend in Aus who is trying to arrange a journey from Paris to Reims on 12 August. She has been onto SNCF website, as I have now, and there don't seem to be any trains running from Gare de l'Est - whether by LGV or conventional route. Various other odd routes (e.g. via Dijon) are proposed.

 

Have we missed something e.g. bookings by sensible routes not being open until 3 months before? Or is there an unparalleled total blockade of Gare de l'Est for some reason?

 

In my experience, the SNCF website is still, like many French websites, laughably bad in terms of layout, usability and functionality.

The concepts of Impressionism and Cubism are deeply ingrained in the French corporate psyche.

I think the Deutsche Bahn website is the best for dealing with such fiendishly cunning questions from potential paying customers as "is there a train going from A to B on this particular date?"

[Andy Hayter]

From what I can see all the trains are running from Gare du Nord on that day after the 8:42.  The Nord departures seem to be substantially faster than the one from Est.  The 12th is a Saturday.  Is it possible that there is planned engineering works over what will be for many an extended weekend?

[TomCarter]

I think that it's just that the times haven't been rolled out to the reservation website yet.  They roll them out gradually 2 or 3 months in advance.  If you look at the previous saturday there are trains available that match.  I think you are best looking every day until they become available (typically by 6:00 am french time each day).

 

Note that that weekend is the busiest weekend of the year for travelling so is probably why they've not yet been rolled out.

 

Tom

[Joseph_Pestell]

From what I can see all the trains are running from Gare du Nord on that day after the 8:42.  The Nord departures seem to be substantially faster than the one from Est.  The 12th is a Saturday.  Is it possible that there is planned engineering works over what will be for many an extended weekend?

It looks to me like engineering works blockade with coaches from various points around Paris to Reims TGV station. But as mentioned, the various SNCF websites are fairly poor.

 

I did wonder if there might be a delay in opening reservations but surely one would open reservations for a busy weekend before others.

[ianp]

Out of curiosity I checked that journey on the Deutsche Bahn website last night. It shows several trains that day from both Gare de l'Est and Gare du Nord.

[Joseph_Pestell]

Out of curiosity I checked that journey on the Deutsche Bahn website last night. It shows several trains that day from both Gare de l'Est and Gare du Nord.

Is that still www.kursbuch.de?

 

Edit: Yes, it is. And that is still showing "something odd" going on. The journey times are 3 hours plus. Even the traditional route was only 90 mins and I think it is about 40 mins on TGV. The options are better than shown on the SNCF site (one suggestion involves departing from Montparnasse!!!) but still something not right.

 

Will have to suggest to Abi that they go the day before if possible. Snag is that she wanted a lot of friends to be able to get there and a Friday will make that difficult.

Edited June 1, 2017 by Joseph_Pestell

[Andy Hayter]

www.bahn.de works for me and you can then choose English language if you wish,  I never do so cannot give the exact web address.

 

 

Edited to add:  I have never found a holiday to have any influence on when bookings open on the SNCF website - except when it is today and that means the renewed booking options will not be posted today but rather tomorrow.

Edited June 1, 2017 by Andy Hayter

[Guest pboeast]

There is a 3-month limit on bookings, but the other problem is a blockade of LGV Est at Champagne Ardennes TGV Jcn. The blockade will involve the TER/Intercites line. Via Lyon and Dijon avoids this due to a coach service. This is now purely arbitrary since the dates have passed!