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SNCF Strikes - Bus replacement/compensation?

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joncombe

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Next Saturday (1st Feb) I need to travel between Lourdes and Biarritz. Back in November I booked a train ticket on the SNCF Website on train "Intercities 14157" departing Lourdes at 19:24 and ariving at Biarritz at 21:19. This is a direct train and I believe it is the last possible journey of the day. (I think it is also the only direct train).

Since I booked the tickets there have been transport strikes across France and I'm trying to find out what happens if (as I suspect it will be) this train is cancelled.

I have been monitoring the situtation on the SNCF website and it seems if I look to travel about 5 days or so ahead all the trains are listed as running. Then each day more and more of the trains show up as cancelled usually until only about 2 or 3 trains are shown as actually running by the day before and often by then those that are running are shown as full so I believe it's not possible to travel on them (most of the services involve a change with one part on a TGV service which I believe are reservation compulsory). Sometimes every single train on this route is cancelled.

I have checked and over the last 4 Saturdays the specific train I'm booked on has been cancelled every week. For this coming Saturday (25th Jan) it was not shown as cancelled yesterday, but today it is showing as cancelled.

What I have not been able to find is what happens if the train is cancelled and hoping someone who travels a bit more often in France might be able to help me. Do SNCF provide replacement buses (I suspect the answer is no - I can't seem to find anything that says they do)? If not do they book a taxi or provide a hotel and a train the next day (I suspect again, the answer is no). I know in the UK TOCs are obliged to get you to the destination printed on the ticket (and pay for an overnight stay if needed) if booked in advance and there is no published amended timetable, as seems to be the case (it seems the trains to be cancelled are only decided a day or two in advance). But I suspect no such condition exists in France and if the train is cancelled the best I can expect is a refund and if I ask for any alternative transport I'll probably get nothing more than shrug of the shoulders. Is there any compensation in this case?

Assuming I'm correct what is the best thing for me to do? I can see the SNCF website also offers bus connections but it shows nothing on the day I need to travel. It also shows something called "BlahBlahCar" which looks to be something like Uber but whilst there is someone offering a lift this coming Saturday between Lourds and Biaritz (and at similar times), so far there is nothing at all for next weekend (maybe there will be in a few days time but...)

I am wondering if it might be prudent to book another ticket on the previous train (which is still shown as running this coming Saturday) on the basis that if I leave it until nearer the time even if it is running it might get fully booked up by then so I won't have the chance. Then worst case I end up with tickets for two trains and if neither of them are cancelled one of the tickets will be wasted (but if one is cancelled and not the other I can get the other ticket refunded). Of course both could be cancelled and then I'm still stuck and have two tickets to request a refund on.

Otherwise I guess the only option is a taxi which I imagine will be very pricey (and I suspect in high demand given how many trains are cancelled)?
 
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30907

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Looking at the relevant TER website there are some bus replacements in operation for tomorrow. TGV/Intercites do not do RRBs, full stop. "Demain, Monsieur" was the advice I got 40 years ago, and that's about it today.
It appears from the SNCF website that they were refunding tickets in full up to a week or so ago, but whether you'll get anything back now I don't know.
I think it's unlikely that a Saturday afternoon TGV from Lourdes to Dax would be fully booked, but IIRC you can get a "place en surreservation" ie with no booked seat. I would get down to the station in time for a train that is actually running and take it from there.
 

k-c-p

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Strike activity has been massively reduced in the last week (I think at least one union suspended the strike): In January the strike hit the paychecks in full force, this reduced the eagerness to strike :). At least long distance service are running at about 90%++ of normal level now, for TER and public transport (like Paris Metro) the situation might be different. Macron reduced the tensions a bit, when he shelved the increase of the retirement age (at least for now) but the extrem-left CGT union is still on the fence and is moving to guerilla tactics now: Last week they broke into the headquarters of the reform-friendler CFDT union and turned off the electricity.

General rule during strikes: From 17:00 the schedule for the next day is available on the website. SNCF tries to put out the schedules for the weekend on Thursday afternoon - most times this work, but not always as workers only have to give a 48 hour strike notice. For long distance trains (TGV, Intercité) you can use the SNCF main website to check, for local trains (TER) take a look of the TER website of the region you are travelling (this might hold for some Intercité as well, as they are run by the regions now). If the SNCF has your email address they usually send an email if your train is cancelled.

During strikes the SNCF exchanges reservations/tickets for other trains at no cost, no matter which fare you have. I travelled during the strike a week ago and got a mail two days before the departure that my train is cancelled and was asked to exchange my ticket for another train. If an exchange is not possible, SNCF recommended to book another ticket and file it for refund later on. I did that, because my trip was London -> Paris -> Strasbourg, my TGV to Strasbourg got cancelled, but E* only could change my ticket to an earlier E* that gives my a change for a Strasbourg connection, but they could not change my TGV booking. So I bought a ticket for this TGV via the App (to be sure that a seat), as I did not know, if I have enough time to get all sorted out in Paris during my transfer time. Finally, I got it sorted out and could exchange my ticket in Paris-Est, I cancelled the ticket in the app about 30min defore the departure of the train an got a full refund of the fare (which was a usually non-refundable "Prems" fare).

One difference I noted during this strike: They were doing meticulous ticket check prior to access to the TGV platforms. Only passengers with a reservation for this specific train were allowed to board (this is a contrast for other strikes I have witnessed in France, were boarding was done in a first-come-first-served fashion). I guess this is the reason the SNCF recommended to book another ticket, if an exchange cannot be done.

To sum this up: Travelling during strikes in France require staying calm and a bit of flexibility. The schedules they put out for strike days are pretty reliable (SNCF has a lof of experience). Do not let the strike spoil your trip.

Bon voyage
Charly
 

coupwotcoup

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I'm on a fag run to Tournai next Wednesday and to be honest, I totally forgot about the strike action.

Wish I'd stuck with plan A now and gone to Brussels.

My turnaround at Tournai is pretty tight so have you a link regarding possible action on said journey from Lille Flandres?

Cheers.
 

joncombe

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Thanks for the help all, good advise there and I hadn't realized there are at least some replacement buses. Looking at the SNCF website more closely I see the train I'm booked on isn't actually cancelled in it's entirety tomorrow, it's going as far as Bayonne and only cancelled from there to Biarritz. So if the same is true next week I can use that and take a bus for the last few miles. There is a frequent public bus (not rail replacement) from Bayonne to Biarritz which seems to run frequently and late into the evening. So I'm hoping the service is at least similar next weekend.
 

30907

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I'm on a fag run to Tournai next Wednesday and to be honest, I totally forgot about the strike action.

Wish I'd stuck with plan A now and gone to Brussels.

My turnaround at Tournai is pretty tight so have you a link regarding possible action on said journey from Lille Flandres?

Cheers.

Try https://www.ter.sncf.com/hauts-de-france, and click on INFO TRAFIC. There are PDFs on a route-by-route basis; today the service is almost hourly offpeak.
 

joncombe

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It seems I spoke to soon. For tomorrow the train I'm booked onto next weekend was shown when I checked it yesterday as running between Lourdes and Bayonne and cancelled beyond there to Biarritz. Now it's shown as cancelled the whole way.

As to the replacement buses I find navigating the SNCF website very confusing. I can find that it's TER Nouvelle-Aquitaine line 51 that covers the section Dax to Biarritz and that are some trains running. However I cannot find what line number covers Lourdes to Dax. I don't know how you find a map of the different line numbers but I found this page on Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TER_Nouvelle-Aquitaine

It shows it's lines 52 and 53 for Lourdes. But the timetables I can get from these lines from the SNCF website at https://www.ter.sncf.com/nouvelle-aquitaine/horaires/info-trafic-sncf-ter but these line timetables for today do not show Lourdes at all and from the text is suggests a normal service will operate tomorrow. And yet if I go here https://www.sncf.com/en/booking-itinerary/search-train-number and put in the train number of the train I'm booked on (14157) it shows this train is now cancelled from all stops (https://www.sncf.com/en/booking-itinerary/search-train-number/train-details/14157?codeCirculation=ac76240e16078367abeb3ebd718c8994&codeZoneArret=OCE87611004&date=01/25/2020)

So now I'm very confused because there seems to be conflicting information. Given the comments above about strict checks on TGV trains and not letting people on without tickets on that booking I feel the best option is to book another ticket on the previous departure (which is a TGV to Dax then a connection from there) as it seems the TGV network is largely back to normal now so I have at least a good chance of getting to Dax which is not so far away.
 

30907

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The info on the TER website about "normal service" almost certainly applies to the TERs only, hence the confusion.
As there is no difference in price for either of the afternoon connections between tomorrow and tomorrow week, I would leave it another week before deciding on your plan of action.
 

joncombe

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I'm on a fag run to Tournai next Wednesday and to be honest, I totally forgot about the strike action.

Wish I'd stuck with plan A now and gone to Brussels.

My turnaround at Tournai is pretty tight so have you a link regarding possible action on said journey from Lille Flandres?

Cheers.
It's been a few years since I did that journey but I'm pretty sure when I did the trains between Lille and Tournai are SNCB not SNCF? So hopefully not impacted by the strike.
 

dutchflyer

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Once again: on the old state-run railways it does not matter whats labelled outside, its not Brit-style ´companies´. Its considered SNCF on the Fr side till the border and SNCB on the BE-side. Due to age old traditions they mostly also ´respect´ the various innumerable ´social actions´ they think fit to do. But the actual stock on this sector often changes, to reciprocate the efforts to be spread out between the two.
Also I think Lourdes is not in Nouv-Aqu, but in the former Midi-Pyrenees, now Pays d´Oc or so larger region.(=where they say that in lieu of oui, though SNCF has not relabelled its new names there).
 

MarcVD

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It's been a few years since I did that journey but I'm pretty sure when I did the trains between Lille and Tournai are SNCB not SNCF? So hopefully not impacted by the strike.

Most trains are SNCB (AM96) but some are SNCF (AGC). Probably all will become SNCF at the end of this year. Tests are currently going on with AGC bi-bi equipped with TBL1+. The idea seems to run electric under 25kv and switch to diesel just for the last few km before Tournai, as AGCs to not have 3kV=. This way, foreign runs between SNCB and SNCF can be better balanced.
 

scarby

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Personally I would be inclined to wait and see how it pans out. As has been mentioned, the situation can be quite fluid and what happened before isn’t necessarily a guide to the future.

I know that line is a bit of a fiddly service at the best of times, but there does appear to be an IC train 14151 scheduled at 15.31 to Bayonne, which maybe you could fall back on if the 19.24 didn’t run. I think you should be ok to just get on that. But if you bought your ticket online SNCF will email you if there is a change.

If you terminate at Bayonne, as you may know it’s really not so much different to going onto Biarritz railway station, which is so far out of the centre, if you need to get to Biarritz town centre. Bus T1 runs every 20 minutes or so from Bayonne Gare and takes 30 minutes to Biarritz town centre.
 

coupwotcoup

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It's been a few years since I did that journey but I'm pretty sure when I did the trains between Lille and Tournai are SNCB not SNCF? So hopefully not impacted by the strike.

Well, everything started okay. Got to Lille E then wandered down to Lille F. Bought a return to Tournai - why do the French take so long to issue
even the most basic tickets?

The train, which incidentally was SNCB, pulled in five minutes late and left 15 after scheduled departure which was worrying considering my tight
turn around but thankfully I found a Tabac outside the station at Tournai and even had time for a bottle of Leffe before heading back.

Checked on the board and the 11.21 back to Lille F was running [again] 15 late and within minutes was suddenly cancelled. Marvellous.

Being an hourly service left me in a quandary as the 12.21 left me just eight minutes to get to Lille E from F for E* back home.

No buses to Lille so jumped in taxi which cost 70 euros as I presumed that this would be far cheaper than having to fork out
for a walk up single back to St Pancras.

The reason I've mentioned this is for future reference and I'm sure many of you wiser heads can help me out here.

What is E* policy re turning up too late for your train?

Is it case of tough and buy a new ticket, or are they flexible and allow you to get the next train available?

I've probably done about 60+ trips on E* but never been late as such so any info, just in case, would be welcome.
 

scarby

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According to the Oui/SNCF site that 19.24 service is scheduled to run. In fact it doesn't even say anything about strike disruption on the site anymore.
 

joncombe

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According to the Oui/SNCF site that 19.24 service is scheduled to run. In fact it doesn't even say anything about strike disruption on the site anymore.
Yes it ran through fine (and on time), so no need to change tickets in the end, thankfully.
 

island

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What is E* policy re turning up too late for your train?

Is it case of tough and buy a new ticket, or are they flexible and allow you to get the next train available?

I've probably done about 60+ trips on E* but never been late as such so any info, just in case, would be welcome.
If the lateness is due to a delay or cancellation on another RailTeam member they will put you on the next train free of charge, whether or not you have a single booking.
 
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