@jon@gruene.social
@jon@gruene.social avatar

jon

@jon@gruene.social

A mix of German politics, European politics and railways #CrossBorderRail. In English and German.

Eine Mischung aus deutscher Politik, europäischer Politik und Eisenbahnen. Auf englisch und auf deutsch.

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jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

Really, this stopping selling loads of international tickets thing is all the SNCF problems in one

It’s international, and they think national

They’re incompetent as to how to handle legacy IT systems that are outdated

They’re inflexible in that they can’t make contingency plans

And finally they’re malevolent, because staff are then told to blame everyone else, instead of SNCF - and the mess was 💯 SNCF’s fault

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar
    • unless you want to travel internationally because we won’t sell you those tickets any more
jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

All right. Now we have the answer.

Austerlitz

Me: Why can I not book a ticket for Berlin on SNCF Connect?

SNCF employee: It’s not possible

Me: But why?

SNCF: “C’est la faute de l’Europe!” (It’s Europe’s fault)

Me: But why can DB sell me a SNCF ticket? SBB a Trenitalia ticket? The only one stopping is SNCF.

SNCF: You have to buy it on the site of DB then or Trainline

(My jaw dropped at that!)

Me: It’s not because SNCF is closing Résarail?

SNCF: It’s because of international agreements!

jon,
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@HauntedOwlbear Not quite, although close. This was all done through a system called Résarail that’s being closed down on 23 May. The new system isn’t yet built and there’s talk it might be ready in 2025…

jon,
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@HauntedOwlbear Yep. But if that’s still the plan I don’t know.

jon, to random
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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,
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@realmos they can’t sell NJ. Full stop.

jon, to random
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Does passenger behaviour on platforms vary between countries I wonder?

The TER Nuits-sous-Ravières - Paris Bercy is peculiar

At all interim stations the platform entrances are at the back of the train. But at Bercy the exit is at the front

I walk to the front at Nuits so I’m near the exit at Paris, but pretty much no others do, despite SNCF Connect indicating it’s a long train

I’m pretty sure in UK or Germany more would do as I do

jon,
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@JensJot well the difference here is also will you get a seat. I’d wager at the back it’s standing only.

jon,
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@KaiLsrv that was a COVID system. It never worked. Because it also didn’t make sense!

jon,
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@c_chep and imagine you do that every day and still don’t learn…

jon,
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@stuffysour absolutely. That too. A good few French passengers have got a sharp edge of my folding bike against their knee as a result 🙂

jon,
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@c_chep yeah I carry a folding bike. It has sharp corners 🙂

jon,
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@AuntieSyzygy Sure - I generally do that too. But here bizarrely the emptiest part is also the part that will be nearest the exits in Paris - which is logically the opposite of what it should be!

jon,
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@KaiLsrv Generally yes re. escalators - although I find Brussels bad in this respect too. I think it's also something to do with the number of commuters in a place as well - for example Frankfurt is more orderly than Berlin in my experience.

jon,
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@AuntieSyzygy Well if you took the same train every day 5 days a week you would surely?

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

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,
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@SuVergnolle which is also odd: on board food on TGVs isn’t great. While in Czechia and Poland it’s much better… 🤔

jon,
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@slateroni if it were I’d have to reserve my croissant in advance, and not be able to get one for most of the day 🙂

jon, to random French
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I am in Paris tomorrow and Saturday, and am planning my routes

8.7 of 9.9km on cycle lanes

Ahhhhh 😍

My planning in Paris is no longer “will it be OK to cycle?” which it was a few years ago, to “sure it will, just what's the best route?”

jon,
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@monsieurm @corentin So something like this?

jon,
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@monsieurm See other toot from @corentin - it's closed off due to Olympics!

patrick, to random
@patrick@mendeddrum.org avatar

23 pages of manure (literally, sometimes. I hate manure) that is the extreme-right Dutch Agreement can contain interesting stuff nevertheless. For there's two sentences (both on page 9):

  1. 'In the border regions, good rail connections with the neighboring country are essential.'
  2. ´There will be a proposal for cross-border rail transport, including the connection of five train stations to international HSL lines (e.g. Hengelo, Venlo, Heerlen, Groningen and Zwolle).' (1/3).
jon,
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@michael_h @patrick it’s planned to fix this. That’s the point.

jon, to random
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“When I see people say Eurostar is shrinking it drives me crazy, because it’s really not true,” says CEO Cazenave to the FT

https://www.ft.com/content/97f7a39b-0536-40e2-bbdd-e1d755418804

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

jon,
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@xi_timpin @TimWardCam which is what my original toot did say 🙂

jon,
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@jimh No. Eurostar doesn’t stop there now. You have to take a South Eastern service there.

jon,
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@jimh Ebbsfleet is the easiest and most viable to reactivate though

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