Cologne to Paris - on the day planning using Interrail

[DeverseSam]

As I understand it the main obstacle for the above journey is quotas on cross border high speed trains, so it’s best to get local transport to a French station, from where a TGV is available without quotas.

These seem to be best French stations to aim for based on my research:

Lille
Metz
Strasbourg

Any I may have missed? Thanks

 

[30907]

That's it, though you could consider Luxembourg where you would have less quota trouble than with the direct Eurostar(Thalys).
Lille is probably the easiest, as there are plenty of TGVs to Paris and you could reserve on the spot.
Metz probably more interesting routes via the Moselle
Strasbourg a long way round I would guess the most likely not to offer you the EUR10 fare.

 

[rg177]

It depends on which day of the week you're travelling - but I found myself a bit stuck at Paris Est on a Saturday morning in Midwinter last year. All of the trains to Strasbourg were fully reserved up until late evening!

You'll certainly have the most choice with Lille.

 

[DeverseSam]

It depends on which day of the week you're travelling - but I found myself a bit stuck at Paris Est on a Saturday morning in Midwinter last year. All of the trains to Strasbourg were fully reserved up until late evening!

You'll certainly have the most choice with Lille.

Thank you, possibly on a Sunday.

I don’t think SNCF always suggests alternative routes, so TGV Paris to Metz + then TER may still have availability in this scenario.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Oct 2023 ==

That's it, though you could consider Luxembourg where you would have less quota trouble than with the direct Eurostar(Thalys).
Lille is probably the easiest, as there are plenty of TGVs to Paris and you could reserve on the spot.
Metz probably more interesting routes via the Moselle
Strasbourg a long way round I would guess the most likely not to offer you the EUR10 fare.

Thanks, the €10 fare is a bargain really compared to on the day public fares of €100+

I think a lot of people buy a interrail, try to book a trip like Paris - Cologne and get frustrated when they can’t get a reservation and imagine the alternative is local trains taking the whole day. The reality is you have to know how to mix and match slow and high speed trains

 

[MarcVD]

It is perfectly possible to travel from Cologne to Paris over Belgium without using any high speed train and therefore not encounter any problem of interrail quota. For example Koln Aachen Welkenraedt Liège Charleroi Maubeuge Paris.

 

[30907]

It is perfectly possible to travel from Cologne to Paris over Belgium without using any high speed train and therefore not encounter any problem of interrail quota. For example Koln Aachen Welkenraedt Liège Charleroi Maubeuge Paris.

Indeed. Or use the ICE to Liege as that's free on IR (if less than 100% reliable!)

 

[DeverseSam]

Thank you for the suggestions.

Also, when you exclude high speed trains, DB is suggesting going via Luxembourg and Toul for most of tomorrow’s journeys, even using sncf buses.

 

[30907]

That looks dire

Thank you for the suggestions.

Also, when you exclude high speed trains, DB is suggesting going via Luxembourg and Toul for most of tomorrow’s journeys, even using sncf buses.

That looks dire, even without buses

I had wondered about TERs Metz-Paris but no better - though it might be engineering works.

 

[MarcVD]

Thank you for the suggestions.

Also, when you exclude high speed trains, DB is suggesting going via Luxembourg and Toul for most of tomorrow’s journeys, even using sncf buses.

For an unknown reason, the Charleroi-Maubeuge trains that SNCB introduced not so long ago are not present in the DB database. The DB journey planner insists to make all Belgium-France cross border trains via Lille.

 

[rvdborgt]

For an unknown reason, the Charleroi-Maubeuge trains that SNCB introduced not so long ago are not present in the DB database. The DB journey planner insists to make all Belgium-France cross border trains via Lille.

I see the Charleroi-Maubeuge direct trains when I look for a journey tomorrow.

 

[MarcVD]

Only some of them ? Nothing between 8 and 14h...

I see the Charleroi-Maubeuge direct trains when I look for a journey tomorrow.

 

[DanielB]

Interesting, I see more trains on the German version of the website...


However, I don't see the 19.24 direct train from your screenshot, but instead another one at 20.24 hrs.

 

[30907]

Interesting, I see more trains on the German version of the website...
View attachment 145756

However, I don't see the 19.24 direct train from your screenshot, but instead another one at 20.24 hrs.

You are looking at the service for Nov. 1 which is a public holiday, not for Oct 31.

 

[rvdborgt]

Interesting, I see more trains on the German version of the website...
View attachment 145756

However, I don't see the 19.24 direct train from your screenshot, but instead another one at 20.24 hrs.

That's because you looked on 1 November (a holiday) and Marc looked on 31 October.
I don't see a difference between the different language versions. Looks like NMBS sent incomplete data to MERITS. Hopefully that will be corrected in the next update, usually on Friday morning.
On the other hand, the NMBS website doesn't mention any direct trains between 8:24 and 14:24 either.

 

[30907]

On the other hand, the NMBS website doesn't mention any direct trains between 8:24 and 14:24 either.

Maybe reflecting lack of weekday offpeak demand, or maybe engineering works?

 

[rvdborgt]

Maybe reflecting lack of weekday offpeak demand, or maybe engineering works?

The trains are planned every 2 hours. But after researching a bit, there are engineering works indeed, on weekdays 11:00-15;00, in France, which "of course" Belgian railways don't mention anywhere.