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

[moof@cupoftea.social]

@jon That would be very Gauche

[jon@gruene.social]

Trundling into Paris. Diversion was timetabled in, but not enough. No worry, I’ll get my connection.

But typical SNCF ‍️ no information whatsoever provided on board here.

[jon@gruene.social]

The Birdy is equipped with a better stand for this trip. And the bags are mounted ready for a quick trip across Paris to Gare de l’Est in the spring sunshine.

[jon@gruene.social]

Also the delay into Paris doesn’t bother me. There’s no tight connection here as the Paris - Strasbourg timetable is so thin anyway. #SNCFlogic

[samy@eupolicy.social]

@jon At least for once not all only leads to Paris…

[jon@gruene.social]

So between 0900 and 1000 there are no Paris - Strasbourg trains (and only 3 long distance trains total, and Frankfurt is via Saarbrücken). Between 1000 and 1100 there are 3 - a SNCF OUIGO, a SNCF inOui just 17 mins later, and a SNCF-DB TGV to Stuttgart (that’s full, and cut off my screenshot) #SNCFlogic

[grlodi@mastodon.social]

@jon Passenger information on a measly, insignificant TER? We French deign to give such a privilege only to distinguished bearers of a fancy TGV ticket (Optimum preferred). Only those elite are enlightened with our true insights: Merci d’avoir choisi le mode de transport le plus écologique pour votre voyage, et ne tentez pas de descendre du train lorsqu’il est en mouvement.

[jon@gruene.social]

Ah. Not as if you’ve got a dozen spare platforms or anything (because there are *so few trains*) but they’ve put both Strasbourg trains on the same platform #SNCFlogic (the inOui isn’t announced, but I’m 95% sure that’s it in front of the OUIGO)

[ffeth@hostux.social]

@grlodi et nous vous souhaitons une belle correspondance à l'aéroport qui dispose naturellement de sa gare TGV contrairement aux grandes villes
@jon

[jon@gruene.social]

Ah. Now we’ve got a SNCF employee at the ticket gates - that are obviously set up to scan any ticket - shouting at passengers that it’s only the OUIGO boarding, not the inOui too. #SNCFlogic

[jon@gruene.social]

And we’re going to have the really *amazing* crush here. The inOui platform will be announced 2 mins BEFORE the OUIGO leaves (20 mins vs 18 mins). So anyone running for the OUIGO is going to be stuck behind a crush of inOui passengers #SNCFlogic

[pepijn@mastodon.online]

@jon Tss. the sheer opulence of that tiny foldable bike having a stand.

[dubiousblur@social.treehouse.systems]

The wastes of capacity you document regularly seem criminal.

[deadliftbear@mas.to]

@jon whenever I hear people in the UK criticise the railways here, I might send them this post. Yes, the UK system has many issues, but I cannot conceive of a long-distance terminus in London having only 3 trains in an hour outside of engineering works.

[jon@gruene.social]

@deadliftbear Right. Or indeed any terminus in any major city other than France or Spain.

[jon@gruene.social]

Ah the idiots have announced the platform but not opened the ticket gates. Well done! #SNCFlogic

[jon@gruene.social]

However my point above was wrong - they did board the OUIGO and inOui from separate platforms They then just hadn’t opened the gates ‍️ #SNCFlogic

[jon@gruene.social]

However you’ve got to admire ticket gates that are staff intensive, do not work well for passengers (QR codes often don’t scan half the time) *and* do not prevent you getting on the wrong train. Which is silly anyway when you have two brands of train run by the same company a few minutes apart, but with incompatible ticketing. #SNCFlogic

[ajinkyapdahale@mstdn.social]

@jon Thought that was bad, but now I'm just thankful this doesn't involve a second gate for no good reason [that I can think of].

[minibill@mastodon.uno]

@jon I really really hate ticket gates. They are a form of distrust that makes no sense to me