SNCF, La Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer (‘National Society of the Railways’ for non-French speakers), is the name given for the train network in France. Unlike the ridiculous system in Britain, SNCF is nationalised, so provides rail services for the entire country.
Whether it is the nationalisation, or just the way in which SNCF is run, the train network in France is fantastic. Without doubt I can say that it certainly fulfils its aim stated on its website (www.sncf.com - it helpfully has an English version, just click the Union Jack in the top right hand corner): SNCF’s ambition is to become the model for public service companies in Europe.
Although I have not had much experience of SNCF, only two journeys in February half term while I was staying in Lille, I feel that the high quality is sufficient to justify a glowing review.
My mother, my boyfriend and I wanted to go to Paris and Amiens from Lille, so we went to the Gare Lille Flandres to book
the day before. The station was huge, considering there were only 8 platforms, and modern. Compared to my hometown station, Guildford, which also has 8 platforms, this was amazing. The station concourse seemed more like an airport concourse.
Buying the tickets was really easy; it was much more civilised than in England. You took a number and then waited until it was called up, and then you were able to sit down in front of the ticket salesman.
The young lady that we spoke to was really nice. She understood that I was trying to practise my French, and didn’t interrupt me to speak in English when I stumbled, even though she could probably speak it fluently. She even tried her hardest to explain to me why I couldn’t get the tickets that I wanted at certain times because of them being pre-booked, and wrote me a list of trains I could get, both to Paris and Amiens. Having chosen the most suitable trains, we decided that we should book the train for Paris then, but leave the train for Amiens until the next day, as it wasn’t necessary to book.
Paying was really easy, as they accepted British credit cards. The only disadvantage was that it was very expensive to get from Lille to Paris, as we were booking so late. It was about Ł80 return for the 3 of us.
The next morning we got to the station early, in case of problems. But even though we were about half an hour in advance of its departure, the train was up on the board and waiting in its platform, although it was not yet ready for boarding. We went to have a coffee in one of the cafés in the station concourse, spoilt for choice.
The train we were getting was a TGV. This stands for ‘Train ŕ Grande Vitesse’ (High Speed Train for non-French speakers) and certainly lives up to its name. Built to a similar design to the Eurostar (actually I think the Eurostar was based on TGVs), it is streamlined and very long, with very modern doors and stairs that descend when the doors open.
It was announced about 15 minutes before it was due to leave, so we went to board it early. Having stamped our tickets in the machines (I am still not quite sure what the point in these are), we found our seats easily. Although we were travelling Second Class, the seats were more like the First Class seats of British trains, very comfortable and very spacious. There was an optional table that could be pulled out, and automatic doors throughout the train.
The toilets were clean and a lot more spacious that the British ones, they actually had toilet paper and soap, could be locked, and were relatively clean, unlike the traditional stereotype of French toilets!
The train moved at a phenomenal speed, approximately 200 miles an hour, I should think, and we covered a distance of what must be like London to Newcastle in exactly an hour. It amazed me how the trains were so punctual and accurately timed. We left dead on the time that the train was scheduled to leave, and arrived dead on the time that it was scheduled to arrive, despite the distance. I have never made such a long journey in England where the train has been less than half an hour delayed.
The way back from Paris was brilliant as well, similar to the way there, and again it was punctual. Unfortunately I fell asleep on the way back, after a long day’s sightseeing, so I can’t comment much on the service, but there weren’t any problems as far as I know.
The next day we again got up early to get another train, this time to Amiens, a small town famous for its cathedral, in the same region as Lille (Nord-Pas-De-Calais). Again, buying tickets was easy, and I was thoroughly impressed by the service. The ticket salesman even managed to cope with my concern over why the train to Amiens wasn’t displayed, but it was because I was looking at the Arrivals board, not the Departures! (Understandable, we don’t have such technicalities in Britain!)
This time, the train was a TER (Train Express Régional), which provides local services, rather than long distance travel. These trains are more similar in style to the British old style ones (e.g. South West Trains falling apart ones), except that the one that we got to Amiens in the morning had two floors, like double-deckerbuses. This was a great excitement to me, who still gets excited by sitting right at the front of a double-decker bus (I was not 18 on Tuesday, honest! :) ), so we went to sit on the top floor despite my Mum’s vertigo.
The train was much slower than the TGV, because it was less streamlined, using old tracks and was a stopping service. It travelled about a third of the distance we had gone the day before in the same time.
Again, the train was clean, punctual and arrived on time. On the way there it was virtually empty (we caught it at about 7.30 to be able to get the cheap rate), but on the way back it was very crowded as we were returning at rush hour.
However, rush hour in France is not nearly as bad as rush hour in England on the trains. It was busy, yet the train was long enough to meet the demand, and everybody was able to get a seat. Many people had luggage with them though for some reason, which didn’t help. As the journey went on, people got off at each station, so the train became emptier.
This doesn’t really relate to the trains, more to the behaviour of French people, but I shall mention it here anyway as this occurred on the train. (I have just been reading the French version of Ciao and the number and detail of reviews on condoms are unbelievable, which further proves this point.) FRENCH PEOPLE ARE SHAMELESS!!! (Apologies for the gross generalisation there, I normally judge people individually, but it is something that I have noticed.)
On the train, when it was very busy, a young couple were sitting next to each other giggling. When I looked over, his coat was over her lap and he had his hand under it. A few minutes later, from the noises the girl was making, it became obvious to the whole compartment what they were doing, and they did not seem to care at all. Unbelievable!!!
I seem to have got off the point somewhat, apologies to the young children reading that, perhaps it shouldn’t have been shared, I just found it funny. I think this would be an appropriate point to draw this lengthy opinion to a conclusion.
SNCF provide a fantastic service, they actually care about their customers, and their trains are punctual, clean and safe (there have been very few, if any, major rail crashes in France in the history of SNCF). May nationalisation survive in France, so that their system is not wrecked by silly Conservative ideas as in Britain.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
all french people are not the same;-)) personnally, I have very much pbs with the sncf... but probably less than U....
kano 06.07.2001 13:44
Excellent and very informative op. Their underground and normal city trains in Paris are excellent too, why is the british railway system so poor??? Shame shame shame Cheers ken
Freddydog 20.05.2001 02:08
Makes you wonder why the British cannot run a train service slightly better than they do.
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very helpful by (100%):
