@jon@takua I managed to get around Belgium somehow. Currently sitting in the TGV inoui from Barcelona to Paris (great landscape). One thing is certain, I will never complain about DB Navigator anymore.
@takua Right. Totally. German journalists often ask me “But surely Germany's digitalisation of rail is lacking!" and then response is “Have you seen the situation elsewhere?”
So I just tried asking at Bercy if they could sell me a ticket to Berlin in June
The guy was friendly but couldn’t get a price (because we know he can’t get prices). But he was genuinely confused, and had no idea SNCF has suspended these sales
I’m going to try once more at Austerlitz and see what they tell me there
@jon Agree with you, last time I was on an ICE to Stuttgart there were some people walking down the aisle towards the front of the train and I remember thinking that nobody in France would do that. Which is weird because every Parisian knows exactly where to stand on the metro in order to be right in front of the exit.
Though to be fair nobody would want to be at Stuttgart Hbf any longer than they absolutely need to!
I’m often critical of French rural timetables not being joined up
But this one works perfectly
The bakery in Nuits opens at 06:00, so there’s time to get a croissant 🥐 on the way from home to the railway station for the first train to Paris at 06:21 🙂
@jon@corentin You can continue along rue de Rivoli to Place de la Concorde, which is very pretty, with a view of the avenue des Champs Élysées and the Arc de Triomphe. Then, take the Pont de la Concorde in front of l'Assemblée Nationale…
Yeah, because you merged with Thalys - so, surprise surprise, you transported more people
Passenger numbers London - Paris/Bruxelles are still down on the last pre-pandemic year, not least because Eurostar now no longer serves Ebbsfleet and Ashford
People keep sharing it into my timelines, being positive. And from a grain of truth Welt constructs a story that’s rubbish. And people who take trains but don’t work on rail topics trust it, even though it’s Welt. And obviously don’t trust a random dude on Mastodon (me) instead
Ok, les passionnés de trains parisiens, j'ai besoin de ton aide.
Comme la file d'attente pour les billets des Grandes Lignes était trop longue à la Gare du Nord aujourd'hui, je vais devoir essayer une autre gare vendredi.
Bercy ou la gare de Lyon seraient les plus faciles d'accès, mais j'irai par vélo ailleurs si les files d'attente sont moins longues.
Quel est le terminal parisien où les files d'attente seront les plus courtes ?
@tristramg Loco2 a été intégré à Rail Europe, propriété de la SNCF. Mais elle l'a vendue l'année dernière. Elle existe donc toujours et peut encore tout vendre, mais ce n'est pas la SNCF.
OK, so when I go to the SNCF Grandes Lignes ticket office shortly at Paris Nord and ask why I cannot buy a ticket to Berlin any more online, and can they help me, what are they going to tell me why it can't be done?
(Answer 4 is the correct answer - but will I get that? Answer 1 is what I received Monday in Strasbourg, Answer 2 is what I got in response to another ticketing data issue in Breil sur Roya last week)
@jon
I had a conversation with a BLS (swiss railway) travel agent. He told me that SBB is on the same trajectory of reducing international sales on their portal and that they (travel agents) now have to book tickets in many different national systems (SNCF, SBB, DB, ÖBB,...). He half jockingly said that it was easier in the 80s !
(While I work at SBB, I don't know anything about this topic and just summarized what I was told)
@jicka Sort of. The 1990s digital system has broken down - and what comes next is a mess. But SBB has at least still got all of Switzerland’s neighbouring countries included.
@mrtnsnp It's more to save myself from the police (who tried to confiscate my bike last time I attended a big EU event with it) - so now I can say it is registered :-) But yes, I will provide a photo if I get a full space to myself.
I asked the employee why this info is not on the screens. “It’s always like that” she said. “Is this DB’s fault or Eurostar’s fault?” She shrugged. Whose fault is it I wonder? Did Eurostar not pay to have info displayed? Or it hasn’t got the data in the right format? Or DB is being deliberately difficult? #CrossBorderRail
A slowish route because all the infra is old. And it’s a ICE 1 from the 1980s, renovated more than a decade ago
But the ambience on board, the comfort of the seats, are still excellent. It’s like someone actually thought “what would passengers actually appreciate in a train interior?”
It doesn’t feel like packing as many people in as possible was the priority. And that’s so nice 😊
@jon yes, it started already. However I doubt that it will be a big success, given the location of Villa Opicina station. I don't know whether they arranged a coordinated bus shuttle from downtown Trieste, which might help to attract passengers...