Pages tagged: France

We chanced this week on a timetable for European night trains in 1999. So it’s interesting to look back and see which trains were running 25 years ago. By 1999, many European high-speed lines were already up and running, so the overnight network had already been trimmed back from its peak in the 1970s and 1980s.

The great advantage in travelling by train in Europe vs. taking the plane is that you can stop off in small places. Here's a list of wonderful small towns which are perfect to fit in on many train-based itineraries.

Would it not be so much better if dozens of cars could be loaded onto a car train so that parents and kids could cruise to their holiday destinations in comfort during the day? Just think of the carbon emissions saved. A half century ago, there was just such a train. It was called the Christoforus Express. We take a look at car trains of yesteryear, focusing on daytime services where motorists could sit back and let the train take the strain.

July 2023 sees changes to train services in Italy, France and Spain with a number of important new routes launched. They include Naples to Bari, Madrid to Marseille and Lyon to Barcelona.

In December 2022 a new weekly train service was launched from Bordeaux to Germany. For summer 2023, there is now a second weekly train direct from Aquitaine to Germany.

Germany’s 9-euro ticket available for travel in June, July and August 2022 is truly an invitation to wander – and not just within Germany’s borders. With a 9-euro ticket to hand, it’s perfectly possible to travel by train or bus into all nine countries that border onto Germany without having to pay a cent extra. Here’s our sample list of cross-border excursions which are there for the taking.

As high-speed lines go, the Paris to Lyon route (LGV Sud-Est) is actually very attractive. Part of its appeal is that it doesn’t tussle with the landscape in the way that some new-build high-speed routes do. We recall the opening of France first high-speed railway line forty years ago in 1981.

This past week has seen new direct overnight services on three key routes, one a French domestic service and the other two both international routes. We'll take a closer look at the offer which brings new night trains to Nice, Split and Amsterdam.

The COVID pandemic has made some ferry companies rethink the whole issue of conveying foot passengers (ie. those travelling without cars). Since 1 January 2021 it is simply no longer possible to travel without a vehicle by ferry on the busy short-sea route from Calais to Dover.

Three routes in our Europe by Rail book are affected by major track renewal programmes in the first half of 2021. Get updates on how train service changes in France, England and Serbia are affecting travellers following those three routes.

Would it not, in these difficult times, be so much better if operators initially open sales only for those trains which would run in the most skeleton timetable? If the pandemic abates, everyone will be delighted to then see operators responding quickly by adding in extra trains to meet renewed demand. We look at the offer of two operators: Eurostar and Thalys.

Here is an update on European night train services as of July 2020. In this post we particularly take a look at night sleepers which, for one reason or another, have not yet been reinstated. But there are also some entirely new routes.

Although some summer-season trains will not be running this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, there are still plenty of services which will operate. Here we give an overniew of some of the summer specials which this year are running to Catalonia, the Alps, the North Sea and Baltic coasts and to Italian resorts.

As France tentatively relaxes its Coronavirus restrictions, a process known as déconfinement, more train services are being introduced from Monday 11 May 2020. On some regional rail routes, intending passengers will need to secure a boarding card (coupon d'accès) prior to travel.

Macron's demand that Air France trim French domestic air services ups the game for rail operator SNCF. The move set us thinking about which French president of the last 100 years has been the most ardent supporter of rail travel.

It's going to take a long time for Europe's long-distance international train services to get back to normal, but many local trains across frontiers are already running again.

There are plans that a new company station will open close to Berlin called Dahlewitz Rolls-Royce granting access to the Rolls-Royce Aerospace plant for the company's employees. That good news prompts us to look at the fate of earlier company railway stations in France and Britain.

Perhaps a future generation of travellers will look back at the international rail timetables for early April 2020, barely able to believe that Europe could have become so fragmented. But will they even be able to find out what the timetables were? In this digital age, we do just wonder whether scholars a century hence will be able to find copies of the railway timetables which were applicable in this difficult period.

We take a look at Europe's fragmenting network of international rail links as passengers stay at home during the Coronavirus pandemic. Rail operators in western Europe have responded a little more slowly to the growing threat than those further east.

High-speed trains between France and Switzerland are these days run entirely by Lyria. The operator introduces new timetables from Sunday 15 December 2019. Not everyone is happy with the proposed changes. We summarise the most important changes.

The new railway timetables that come into effect on Sunday 9 December 2018 could well bring significant improvements in international rail services in both the Belgian area of Wallonie and Poland's Silesia region. In this European Rail News, we sum up the changes.

A new timetable comes into effect on 20 November that changes the frequency of Thello Eurocity services on the route from Marseille via Nice to Milan. Read on for further details.

We take a look at some changes on the Moscow to Paris and Nice services run by Russian Railways that come into effect in mid-December 2017.

The main line south from Karlsruhe up the Rhine Valley towards Switzerland is closed due to track damage. Here we explain which train services are affected and suggest alternative routings.

While major revamps of European rail timetables normally take place in mid-December each year, there are also mid-year revisions of schedules. We look at some new travel opportunities for summer 2017.

Did you know that Interrail or Eurail one-country passes can sometimes be used to travel across the border into neighbouring countries? So a Swedish pass can be used for travel to Oslo, Copenhagen, Berlin and even on a bus route into Finland.

The old signal box at the Gare de Lyon is no longer fit for purpose and a new signalling centre at Vigneux-sur-Seine is now ready to take over its duties. To this end, the main part of the Gare de Lyon will be closed to both arriving and departing trains on Saturday 18 March and Sunday 19 March.

New rail timetables debut across Europe on 11 December 2016. Dozens of commentators have remarked on how the new schedules affect train services in western and central Europe. But hardly anything has appeared in English on what the new timetables herald for Russia.

Significant train timetable changes in eastern France and parts of Luxembourg come into effect on Sunday 3 April 2016. The new schedules are the result of a project called Cadencement du réseau TER-Métrolor which has been in preparation for a couple of years.

Two new train services from Brussels to France will commence operation next month. And they are as different as chalk and cheese. Here’s the gen on a new fast link to Strasbourg and a slow train to Paris.

Looking at the spring 2016 train timetables, we notice that in April 2016 Eurostar is cutting out the intermediate stop at Lyon Part Dieu on some journeys between London and the south of France.

Many travellers today are keen to book trips a long time in advance. And, if train travel is to compete with planes, then long booking horizons are essential. We look at international TGV services which allow customers to book their tickets four months in advance.

The coming couple of years will see the opening of several new stretches of high-speed railway in Europe. Here’s a look at what’s in store for rail travellers in France and Germany.

For many years, Thalys trains never crossed the River Rhine. Trains from Paris all terminated at Cologne Hauptbahnhof on the west bank of the river. But from December 2015 Thalys will extend its network to Dortmund.

It was bound to happen sooner or later. Badly behaved Brits on the winter-season direct overnight ski trains between London and the French Alps have prompted Eurostar to rethink its policy on the consumption of alcohol.

SNCF has today announced that the proposed reopening next month of two branch railways in western France has been postponed: that from Nantes to the coastal communities of Pornic and St Gilles Croix de Vie.

Eurostar’s new direct year-round train from London to the Mediterranean has an en-route stop at Lyon. This coming winter that Lyon stop may prove to be a favourite connecting point for travellers bound for the French Alps - and make even offer an advantage over the regular Eurostar ski trains to the Tarentaise Valley.

It looks like all change at Thalys as the international rail operator trims its network. Thalys presently serves ten stations in Belgium. With next week’s cuts, that number drops to just four.

We look at the revised timings of Russian Railways' Paris-Berlin-Moscow service which will from mid-June 2015 depart Paris Gare d'Est station at 20.05, creating a new overnight option between Paris and Berlin.

Each issue of the new European Rail Timetable contains a Route of the Month. These are texts, which highlight the particular appeal of one selected European rail route.

In the two or three months prior to the annual revamp of European rail timetables, there is inevitably speculation and angst about how the new timetables might impact on travel plans. We have a glimpse at the travel opportunities introduced by the new Eurostar services for travellers leaving from London St Pancras.

Yesterday’s ‘Letter from Europe’ reports on the decision to axe the night train from Switzerland to Denmark. It is, sadly, part of a wider trend. A raft of European night trains looks set to be cut. Deutsche Bahn’s City Night Line (CNL) network is being severely pruned.

If you are like us and five-star hotels are not quite your style, then it may have escaped your attention that a number of Europe’s most celebrated and expensive hotels were quietly rebranded this past spring. They have lost the Orient Express branding.

Here in Berlin there is a real sense of spring in the air, and we are well aware that travellers’ thoughts are turning to summer journeys. It’ll be no surprise that we tend to favour the train for most of our trips across Europe. So, for those of our readers who have not spent the long winter nights tracking changes in train timetables, here’s a run-down on headline changes over recent months.

The direct rail service from Paris to Moscow is run by Russian Railways (RZD) using their sleek modern sleeping cars. It is, we think, one of Europe’s most interesting trains — and, for those who want to splash out on the top-of-the-range luxury sleepers, one of the most comfortable train journeys in Europe.

SNCF quietly expanded its TGV network today with the introduction of a seventh cross-border TGV service from France to Germany. The new service connects the university city of Freiburg im Breisgau in south-west Germany with Paris.

Is Elipsos nearing the end of the line? In late 2012, The Spanish rail operator cut its routes to Italy and Switzerland. What remains are two night train routes: from Barcelona and Madrid to Paris. And with upcoming competition from fast TGV daytime services from Paris to Barcelona, we wonder if Elipsos' days are numbered.

When British Railways introduced the Inter-City brand in 1966, no-one could possibly have anticipated how the idea would be emulated and adapted by railway administrations across Europe. Today, the term Inter-City (or IC) is used for a variety of train services – we take a closer look at the Inter-City brand across Europe.

Long before anyone had even heard of Eurostar, the British Rail Board (BRB) published a series of indicative timetables for a possible Channel Tunnel rail service linking London with Paris. We reproduce here what we believe is the first iteration of that timetable, released 40 years ago in 1973.

Cast back fifty years and St Pancras station in London had plenty of trains to stir the imagination. The Palatine still ran from St Pancras to Miller’s Dale and The Waverley to Hawick. But during the 1980s and 1990s, St Pancras was a dull place for devotees of interesting trains. It’s hard to get excited about the slow train to Luton or the semi-fast to Leicester. This most august of London termini fell into deep decline.

Last weekend, a raft of changes was introduced to train services from Moscow to France, the Netherlands and elsewhere in western Europe. The December 2012 issue of the Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable gives full details of all these changes. We here pick up some key changes to train 21JA from Moscow.

Here's an interesting thought. Already this year we have had a number of readers of our Europe by Rail book comment on the hefty supplements that some railway operators charge to holders of Eurail and InterRail passes. But even on itineraries through countries where fast trains require advance seat reservations, it is often possible to devise a creative journey plan that sidesteps the trains on which you might have to pay a pass holder's supplement.

The Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable has always excelled in its coverage of France. England's nearest neighbour has long exerted a strong appeal for rail travellers (and not merely from England) and some of Thomas Cook's earliest tours were to France. Timetable editor Brendan Fox and his team have surely faced one of their biggest-ever challenges this winter as French rail operator SNCF introduced wholesale reform of their schedules.

Boulogne has always knocked spots off Calais as a port-of-entry into France. The city has a particularly attractive Ville Haute (Upper Town). But sadly, you'll not find a lot of travellers from England visiting Boulogne nowadays. The famous port has been left proverbially high-and-dry with no ferry operators regularly serving the port.

Are not the finest parts of many long train journeys those fleeting glimpses of a city or a country that you get just prior to arrival at your destination? There is a superb moment on the train journey through Slovakia towards Budapest, a view dominated by the huge basilica at Esztergom.

There are a few changes on Eurostar this week with the introduction of a new Standard Premier class on services linking London with Brussels and Paris. Standard Premier replaces Leisure Select as the middle tier of the three class service on Eurostar's capital city services.