Welcome to today's thread - #CrossBorderRail 2026 Tour Day 17 - 11 Apr - Ravières - Paris - Stuttgart - München - Budapest

[minibill@mastodon.uno]

@jon I almost lost my train because the ones in Arnhem failed to scan my ÖBB ticket tho (and it was Stupid AM so no one to open it for me)

[maartje@blahaj.social]

@jon you should see SNCF staff looking amazed at us boarding in Gare du Nord without platform checks without any issues

[tomtom@pouet.chapril.org]

@jon never understood the point of these platform gates for long distance trains. You still have ticket control inside the train, they require 2 or 3 members of staff as they are dysfunctional and confusing and they are wildly inefficient for the onboarding of an 800pax train. In other words, they cost money, they serve no purpose and they are an annoyance.

[jon@gruene.social]

@tomtom Right, I agree. But they create jobs, so maybe in the SNCF logic it makes sense?

[jon@gruene.social]

@maartje YOU MIGHT HAVE THE WRONG PASSENGER ON BOARD!

[webhat@infosec.exchange]

@miniBill @jon I usually have a back up OV in my pocket to get me through the gates and check myself out again after I'm through. One could also theoretically use their bank card

[maartje@blahaj.social]

@jon thats why we can throw people out again

[minibill@mastodon.uno]

@webhat @jon yeah, second time it happened I did that (check in and out). Basically proves how silly the gates are

[hopla@zug.network]

@jon OuiGo is a subsidiary tho, that's not the same company
And I'm fairly sure the ticket gate disaster is a SNCF Gares&Connexions doing (and their own staff), not a SNCF Voyageurs. Someone in a desk high up thought about the "access to platform allowed only with valid ticket" rule too much

[jon@gruene.social]

@hopla Haaa The trains still say F-SNCF on the side. Enough for me!

[maartje@blahaj.social]

@hopla @jon Gares&Connexions is happy to not enforce the ticket gate rules on demand of the operator though…

[hopla@zug.network]

@jon Gradually this will also change as companies get their own security certification ^^ I could already spot Hexafret locos registered as F-HXF

[lewd@zug.network]

@hopla @jon Yeah, I mean for Thalys no one checks at the platform neither.

[lewd@zug.network]

@hopla @jon That's what all French say but it's really splitting hairs. It's a brand, sorry. Yes, they all say "mimimi other company" but at the end it's the same cartel and nothing more than a brand. Other countries reach there too.

[maartje@blahaj.social]

@lewd @hopla @jon in the end do they share the same staff training, certification or break room? Same company. (Tries not to go into real open access rant)

[masek@infosec.exchange]

@jon Auf dem Weg gerade nach Frankreich (heute Abend: Paris, morgen: Nizza)

[masek@infosec.exchange]

@jon P.S. Ich hasse die Gates in Frankreich

[pseyfert@chaos.social]

@jon until this post, I thought that's about as bad as renfe in atocha boarding the 5min apart iryo and AVE from the same platform. But you prove me wrong, that's actually worse.

(Anecdote: it took me a while to realise that I thought "something with yes" is how sncf calls their TGVs these days, until I noticed that they had two services, both called "something with yes".)

[jon@gruene.social]

@hopla Hang on. How is SNCF allowed to pass a locomotive containing asbestos to F-HXF but not to Transdev?

[jon@gruene.social]

@maartje @lewd @hopla SNCF: all the same company when it suits SNCF. Different companies when it suits SNCF.

And those cases are often *precisely the opposite* of when it being one company or not would suit the passengers.