Welcome to today's thread - #CrossBorderRail 2026 Tour Day 03 - 18 Feb - Ravières - Dijon - Culmont Chalindrey - Paris – Genève

[stefanlindbohm@mastodon.social]

@jon @12train Aaalso.. why does SNCF use a different train number in their own channels than they report to international timetables? The leading 8 is only included in their own systems.

(It’s marked as compulsory reservation in Merits too)

[jon@gruene.social]

@thias then it’s wrong in the European Commission’s list I’ll correct it.

[jon@gruene.social]

@stefanlindbohm @12train that extra number depends on the Région I think? But it’s not consistently applied.

[corentin@masto.bike]

@jon As with pretty much everything in France (not only trains!), it's only compulsory reservation if the train manager decides to enforce it, if they bother checking tickets at all that is

[thias@mastodon.social]

@jon https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gare_de_Pougny_-_Chancy?wprov=sfti1#Desserte

[deadliftbear@mas.to]

@jon what’s the difference between TER and TER fluo?

[technicalotter@glammr.us]

@jon paying for seat reservations?!?!

[partim@social.tchncs.de]

@stefanlindbohm @jon @12train Can Merits even do six digit train numbers?

[jon@gruene.social]

@thias oh I don’t doubt you. Just my source was wrong.

[jon@gruene.social]

@deadliftbear Fluo is what it’s called in Grand Est. Obviously!

[stefanlindbohm@mastodon.social]

@jon @12train Is it related to operations maybe? Like which operations centre it runs under..? It’s a crazy pattern so now I’d be curious to now

[stefanlindbohm@mastodon.social]

@partim Yep, it exists. Lokaltog in DK was the first example that popped up.

@jon @12train

[jon@gruene.social]

@stefanlindbohm @12train in Bourgogne it’s weird. They add the 8 only to the very slowest trains (ones that don’t serve Paris)

[jon@gruene.social]

So I asked at Culmont Chalindrey

Station staff told me Dijon - Culmont Chalindrey ISN’T compulsory reservation

But anything along the line Belfort - Culmont Chalindrey - Troyes - Paris IS (whereas I thought it was only from Nogent sur Seine - Paris)

‍️

[bovine3dom@masto.ai]

@jon you _can_ coax this information out of SNCF Connect by clicking "Show details" and then "Pricing details [...]"

I'm always amazed that they're allowed to sell you tickets without explicitly showing you what they're actually selling you

and of course just because they're only selling specific-train tickets doesn't mean that that's the only kind of ticket accepted on that service. because as we discussed yesterday the SNCF doesn't sell all SNCF tickets in France

[thias@mastodon.social]

@jon I sometimes doubt myself. A source is always good.

[partim@social.tchncs.de]

@stefanlindbohm @jon Both ÖBB and the Interrail app show those with five digits only, too. Maybe it is a Hafas limitation (which would make sense, the old Hafas exchange format used fixed witdh fields and was a wee bit conservative).

[phrawzty@hachyderm.io]

@jon
Doing god's work out there 🫡

[jon@gruene.social]

I also asked why these trains are compulsory reservation anyway

“There’s too much demand!”

My response: “So run more trains!”

“But that’s the Région’s responsibility!”

But what if my plans change? I asked the employee

“Then you have to change your ticket in the app”

‍️

[hopla@zug.network]

@jon @stefanlindbohm
Little hint: the leading "8" in the numbering system indicates it's a TER train with passagers. The number after seems to be region-related, and the next one line+service related. I don't have the exact details but I can make guesses:

832xxx is gonna be a train in the Strasbourg area, either as Saverne-Sélestat omnibus or Strasbourg-Niederbronn mission.
Trains starting with "7" are "postal train" without passengers (hence won't show in apps). If I recall correctly, "9" is for last-minute sillon, "4" and "5" are cargo related

As for Dijon.. it's always a culture shock to me when I go there and see the station at a rush hour (~17:00-18:00) and there's barely any train entering/departing for 20 minutes, platforms empty, station shops sparsely occupied. Région BFC doesn't order trains for commuters, almost everything is Paris-Lyon oriented.