My wife (Shirley) and I took a rail and bus based holiday in France and Italy between 11 September and 5 October. A number of features are worth reporting, namely, the complete inadequacy of the SNCF services, and the serious delays we experienced later on. We caught one of the two direct weekday HS services from Maidstone West at 07.45 arriving St Pancras at 08.38 where we had a leisurely breakfast.

We then faced the crowded Eurostar check-in, even mid-week at the end of the peak holiday season, and arrived well over an hour before our departure time. Then onto the idiotic security, double passport checks and stamping, something that all Eurostar travellers are getting used to now. The worst aspect was the 40 minutes spent in the snaking queue back and forth across the check-in area just like at the airport! For aged 70-plus passengers like ourselves, shuffling along and pushing suitcases and rucksacks this is demanding. At one point, my wife had to sit on the floor as it was so tiring for her. The train then departed on time at 11.01, arriving Lille Europe at 13.26 and the journey was uneventful.

We are entitled, in theory, to 50% (“FIP”) discount on the full price of most European train fares (except Sweden, the Baltic states, and Albania) as I am a former BR employee. This facility is becoming less attractive to staff than it used to be, as Advance fares are nearly always far cheaper if booked well in advance. SNCF will no longer allow FIP tickets to be issued by any agency outside France and they cannot be purchased on-line. Risking buying our TGV tickets when we arrived in France was, I thought, unwise. This proved to be so, as many services we wished to use were fully booked by the time we had arrived in France. I bought the relevant tickets which vary in price depending on demand and time bought in advance. In every case the TGV fares I booked were not saving us much even two months in advance. As the normal TGV ticket prices have become so expensive, we decided to risk booking a “no-frills” OIUGO basic service to Aix-en-Provence at 15.20 instead from Lille Flandres at the cheaper price of 25 Euros each, plus 6 Euros to reserve two seats and 5 Euros for a big suitcase. This was far cheaper than the 80 euro fare each we would each have had to pay on a TGV from Lille Europe an hour earlier. The seats were fine, the train was not full, other passengers were quiet, and we arrived in Aix TGV station on time at 19.57.

The signage for the bus connection to Aix town centre was poor. We weren’t the only ones who left by the wrong exit, then had to descend in a lift to a basement level and ask help to finally reach the sign for the bus stop in a tunnel, on a slip road off the highway. Buses on Route 40 run every 30 minutes from Marseilles airport via the Aix TGV station (every 15 minutes from the TGV station) onto the town bus station, but not the “town” railway station. We were misled, as were others including French passengers, that we could pay by cash to the driver. The first bus which had come from Marseilles airport refused, and we were told we could only use “Carte Bleu” cards, and to wait for the bus 15 minutes later which starts there. The driver of this bus was happy to accept cash and other credit cards! There seemed no logic for this different fares policy on alternate buses, nor is there any explanation in the on-line or printed publicity about this. From Aix bus station we were then lucky to find the correct city bus to drop us near our hotel.

Our stay in this attractive town for three nights was uneventful apart from an unseasonably cold ferocious wind for mid-September, even though the sun was shining. We departed from Aix-en-Provence Ville station on a Saturday morning. We now used our FIP reduced priced tickets purchased at Lille Flandres station three days earlier for our unreservable TER trains, from Aix to Ventimiglia, and then back to Marseilles. Curiously all main stations where we visited the ticket office for long-distance tickets were at individual tables, with both a seated clerk and a seat for the passenger, or else standing clerks with no seats for passengers. Local tickets were issued in separate offices.

We changed at Marseilles St Charles, where our next train for Nice was waiting to start its journey. Our tickets to Ventimiglia “instructed” us to change at Cannes for a 7 minute connection rather than at Nice where the connection was 15 minutes. This puzzle was revealed on arrival at Cannes where the connecting train would be the following one on the platform coming from the reopened Grasse branch. However our 09.57 from Marseilles, which is a two-hourly service, was only a 4-car emu, and gradually filled up until it was packed with standees and luggage with sparse luggage space. We struggled to alight at Cannes with the crowds, when we discovered our 7 minute connection was irrelevant as the train was “supprime”! At least this Grasse/Cannes-Ventimiglia service is half-hourly for most of the day. I then purchased some food outside the station, and we waited the half hour for our next train. It was an 8-car twin double deck emu, and although we obtained seats with no difficulty, it was following a cancelled train path. This also soon filled up with standees and luggage, even though many passengers were day-tripper tourists riding short distances to visit different Riviera towns on a warm summer day. This arrival in Ventimiglia was just 10 minutes late.

We had plenty of time anyway for our afternoon train to La Brigue, which only has a three times daily Trenitalia service terminating at Cuneo crossing the frontier twice. The parallel SNCF service from Nice to Tende (the last station in France) has been withdrawn for many months now because the one tunnel allegedly repaired between Nice and Breil-sur-Roya where the two services meet up, had apparently collapsed again. SNCF were directing passengers to their partial replacement bus service from Nice to Breil, and then on an infrequent local French bus service 25(Which runs from Menton via Ventmiglia and Breil to La Brigue and Tende). The SNCF website makes no mention of the more convenient if infrequent option of travelling to Tende or La Brigue with Trenitalia via Ventimiglia. We later met two other elderly British tourists at La Brigue who were forced to travel on the slow bus from Nice, and change twice, rather than be given more helpful alternative advice by staff in Nice!

We visited several villages in this mountainous valley on the 25 bus, and at Tende there is a museum with plenty of information and videos about the disastrous floods and destruction of many villages in 2020.It is clear that they are still rebuilding many homes and roads four years later, much delayed due to the covid epidemic. The railway was completely closed for several years, and in the early months there was no bus replacement either. We were told initially they ran 3 convoys a day of suitably hardy vehicles escorted by the emergency services over the rocks, broken roads and temporary bridges up and down the valley. There was much loss of life too. Some of the local shops had placards claiming a drastic loss of custom and closures, implying that because there are no trains they feel cut off. The tourist office staff there (200m from the station on the main street), confirmed that the Italian train service, though infrequent, was still running. They agreed with me shamefacedly that it was patriotic pride that led some businesses locally to claim there were no trains! The attractive village of La Brigue where we stayed suffered far less damage.

We left La Brigue four days later on a punctual morning Trenitalia train back to Ventimiglia. The scenery on this run is superb with loops over the mountainous line either below or above (like the Swiss Rhaetian Bahn routes); both to Ventimiglia, and from Breil to Nice if it had been running.

At Ventimiglia I purchased bus tickets from the station cafeteria for 1.50 euro each for journeys up to 100 minutes to any destination on the services of Riviera Trasporti in western Liguria. After a meal, we waited in pouring rain for the bus to Pigna which was full of school students picking up more en route, with many standees and much discomfort. Pigna is in the Italian mountains in a steep valley parallel to the French one we had just left. We stayed there for eight nights and visited every village in the beautiful valley on different days, all served by the infrequent buses. On some of the roads these buses (usually full size) had to negotiate parked cars, opposing traffic movements, single width tunnels, hairpin bends, and precipices with low walls all requiring considerable skills and much reversing. Fortunately the traffic was light on these roads. The bus tickets which can be purchased from selected local shops for only 1.50 Euros were a tremendous bargain.

We then returned to Ventimiglia where I was disappointed to see evidence of what I already knew. The coastal trolleybus service from Ventimiglia, Bordighera, to San Remo and Taggia had been withdrawn many months ago, but most of the wiring and poles were still in place. A regional government plan to fund replacement of the dilapidated fleet and renew equipment had been abandoned. Although the replacement buses were modern and comfortable, the traffic conditions on this 2-lane coastal road were appalling. For our planned stay in the next town, Bordighera, however we decided to use the half-hourly train service to Savona (hourly on to Genoa) instead. The journey time usually on double deck trains was 7 minutes compared to 25 minutes on the bus! We had a pleasant 4-night stay in the old part of the seaside resort of Bordighera, on a hilltop overlooking the sea, which was very pleasant. On one day we visited San Remo further along the coast using the local buses and cheap tickets of course, which was disappointingly overcrowded, apart from its small hilltop old town which was scruffy unlike Bordighera. The beach area was typical of resorts along this coast with fast food, cafes, and not much else.

Our departure from Bordighera station after a taxi ride from our hilltop town was the start of a very eventful day. We set off an hour earlier than needed because we did not trust connections. We planned to arrive in Perouges, a beautiful mediaeval village north east of Lyons, at 17.45, after five separate train journeys. The train from Bordighera at 08.36 to Ventimiglia was fine for the 7 minute journey. At Ventimiglia, we made no attempt to get onto the 08.47 train for Grasse, and boarded the odd 09.01 semi-fast service to Nice, which fills the curious 90 minute gap in the all-stations service at this time, of the otherwise mostly half-hourly service. Eventually the platform indicator predicted a 30 minute delay, which in stages became 40, 60 and then 70 minutes, with the 08.47 still at its platform and packed with all those going for the first departure on the route. Then came an announcement in French that the line “between Italy and France” was closed due to an (unstated) problem. Most passengers now gave up and returned to the booking hall or cafeteria in the hope of more information which was not forthcoming. Throughout all this not a single member of SNCF staff appeared, and the only Italian ones were a single booking clerk and a station member who spent his time staring at the departure board like everyone else, and Trenitalia train crews going to their trains all on time of course. We had breakfast in the cafe and then I spotted two armed soldiers in the waiting area. One of them when asked told me there had been a fatality on the line. He did not know if it was a suicide. The 10.17 departure which was the one we originally planned to take was on the board now as well as the 10.47 and 11.17, but no sign of any movement. At 11.10 the station member told those within earshot that the 10.17 was finally going. Passengers moved quickly to the remote platform, boarded the train and it left at 11.25, but was still much delayed en route.

Obviously our connection in Nice was blown, after arriving at 12.45. The next two-hourly train at 13.25 was a hauled 10-car set of Corail coaches rather than a 4-car emu. It was still fairly crowded on departure for such a long train. At Toulon the train sat there for 20 minutes because of a problem with the loco, and soon after failed at Bandol, a local station. We were turned out and passengers transferred by subway to the other platform. The driver advised those standing in the wrong place it was only the next scheduled 4-car local train from Toulon to Marseille, but at least it was a double deck one. There was a mad rush to board when it arrived, as many had heavy luggage, children, and bicycles. We were offered seats in the packed solid carriages only because of our age. This local train also lost time before reaching Marseille at 17.50. At the booking office we showed our tickets for the journey just completed and our tickets for the long gone 15.12 TGV to Lyon Part Dieu. These tickets bought separately of course did not entitle us to be put on the next train as we would with through tickets, but we were offered free exchange anyway, and advised to go for the 17.18 TGV departure due in at 18.10, having followed us from Nice. Although I already knew from the SNCF app that there were no seats left, the two very harassed staff on the chaotic platform confirmed there were no seats but left us to our own devices anyway. We boarded a first class quiet coach where we found one unclaimed seat, while one of us sat on the stairs to the lower deck! The train finally departed at 18.25. and no ticket checks on the train were carried out. We arrived in Lyon at 20.30, 70 minutes late, although 3 hours 37 minutes later than our original plans!

I purchased local train tickets, and we then phoned our hotel in Perouges. Although final check-in time was 19.30, they agreed that a member of staff would collect us off the last 21.12 departure from Lyon at Meximieux-Perouges station at 21.45, (instead of at 17.45!). The station is a mile away below the village, with no taxis there unless pre-booked. This was a great relief as we would have had to stay in Lyon otherwise at further expense. We spent just two nights in the beautiful but expensive mediaeval hotel in this unspoilt ancient village, although the weather was poor with continuous rainfall until the last morning.

We departed by a booked taxi and our next journey was uneventful. After changing at Lyon we took a 20-minute train journey to Vienne, on the Rhone south of Lyon. This is a town renowned for its Roman heritage buildings and huge Roman museum, all of which we visited during our three night stay.

On our last day we departed from Vienne earlier than needed at 10.20 on another 10 coach train of Corail coaches, in contrast to the 4-car emu we had arrived on. Although there is an hourly service pattern, as far as Valence, at least, this train had departed from Marseille at 06.53. This was the first train out which catered particularly for cyclists and was almost completely full of regular passengers, tourists and a large number of cyclists. We had our lunch near Lyon Part-Dieu, in a restaurant surrounded by trams and trolleybuses. The area west of the station was being completely redeveloped and the congested pedestrian exit from the station on that side was long, cluttered and devoid of shelter.

Our twin TGV sets from Lyon at 14.00 consisted of a double deck unit for Brussels and our coach was in a single deck set for Lille only. As the fares were expensive anyway I had booked first class seats as it was not much more than second class. We had a very pleasant and comfortable journey to Lille Europe with no problems arriving at 16.58. At Lille we went through the usual border and security procedures for our 18.35 departure to London, and again the journey was punctual arriving at there at 18.57, in plenty of time for our next HS service at 19.20 to Strood for Maidstone West. Of course, this highlights the idiocy of the prolonged omission of Ebbsfleet and Ashford station stops since February 2020, and the lack of any powers to force Eurostar to re-instate those stops.

The important messages to pass on about our trip: SNCF services seem quite inadequate on all the TGV routes and clearly on many other classic routes too, especially along the French Riviera. A two-hourly frequency from Marseilles to Cannes is clearly inadequate, even though there is a half-hourly local service from Marseille to Toulon/Hyeres. The irregular TGVs from Paris to Nice do not all call at Marseille and all require a reservation. OUIGO trains though extremely cheap, have restrictions, and are only bookable on-line with luggage restrictions, no refreshment facilities nor first class. Although we travelled at midday on a Wednesday, they are usually fully booked at weekends. They are also infrequent, but worth considering if you wish to save considerable sums over normal TGV fares. Our lack of through ticketing in France combining separate tickets was obviously a risk, but was no problem in reality. My advice is to plan carefully, book tickets in advance to save money and avoid disappointment with fully booked trains. Check your next train’s expected performance using relevant railway’s free WIFI on the trains, to minimise the risk of missed connections and mobs of unsure passengers with luggage at busy stations when things go wrong. But please don’t fly instead just to avoid these potential problems. Apart from the environment airlines also suffer delays and other problems too!

Ian McDonald – November 2024