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

[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

[jon@gruene.social]

@miniBill Right. Same. Although the Dutch have at least designed some that seem to scan tickets more often than not. Unlike the French ones!

[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)