EVIDENCE FROM 2 AWFUL JOURNEYS USING AN INTERRAIL PASS

More than 12 years ago the first direct high speed train link was completed between Perpignan(FR) and Barcelona(ES). This was the first time trains could run directly from the Iberian Peninsula to the rest of Europe without having to change gauge at the border. Yet the service still remained abysmally poor in January 2025 with only 2 trains per day run by SNCF from Barcelona to Paris, 1 per day by RENFE to Lyon and 1 per day by RENFE to Marseille. To make matters worse with these 4  trains: Some call at the TGV stations for Nimes & Montpelier and others call at the “town” stations instead – but not both ! The only stations the 4 trains all call at are Narbonne & Perpignan.

JOURNEY 1 – NIMES to ZARAGOZA – SUNDAY 19th JANUARY:

I was booked onto the Intercites train 4758 from Nimes to Narbonne  at 10.33, which would have given me about 30 minutes to connect into TGV 9713  scheduled at 12.24 for Barcelona. I then found out at Nimes station the train had been cancelled and was booked onto the next TGV for Narbonne, which connected with a local train at 13.04 from Narbonne to Port-Bou.

Arriving at Port Bou on time at 14.43 , I knew I would miss my booked connection for Zaragoza in Barcelona at 16.00 hours. As I had about 45 minutes at Port Bou, I tried to re-book my RENFE AVE train for an 18.00 departure, but this was not possible This ticket office does not deal with RENFE reservations and only sells tickets for local & regional trains in Catalunya. The regional train departed on time at 15.24 from Port Bou. Soon after, there was an announcement saying that the train would be making extra stops along the way which meant that it would not arrive in Barcelona Sants on time at 17.40. It did actually arrive at about 17.58, which was not enough time to change platforms & reservations and go through security.

By luck, I managed to get my reservation changed in time for the 18.40 AVE for Zaragoza. However, I still had to pay another reservation fee as RENFE refuse to acknowledge delays caused by SNCF. This train was also delayed en route at Lleida for about 20 minutes due to technical problems on the high-speed line.

JOURNEY 2 – BARCELONA to GHENT – WEDNESDAY 27th JANUARY:

  I was booked onto  the RENFE AVE train  due to depart from Barcelona Sants at 08.19 and due to arrive at Lyon Part-Dieu at 13.20. This would give me planty of time to connect with my booked TGV INOUI departing at 13.59 from Lyon and due in Brussels South at 17.43.

  After a punctual start, the train came to a halt after about 20 minutes around 30 kilometres outside Barcelona. Announcements were then made in French & Catalan over a faulty pa system explaining that the train would be delayed  by about 30 minutes due to a points failure. After 30 minutes further announcements explained that they did not know how long the train would be delayed for. After about an hour the train started to stop and start every few minutes moving along at a very slow speed. This went on for about 90 minutes(with no further announcements) until we crawled into Girona station more than 2 hours 30 minutes late. After Girona the train ran reasonably well apart from a delay outside Nimes while waiting for a “slot” on the high speed line. The RENFE conductor refused to endorse the 2.5 hour delay on my printed reservation, as evidence for SNCF at Lyon where I would need to re-book my TGV to Brussels.

   Having found the right ticket office at Lyon, I tried to re-book the next TGV to Brussels due an hour later at 16.59. I was then passed between several members of staff who all said I need to see one of the others for Interrail. Having made a bit of a fuss, I finally got the right member of staff who was as helpful as he could possibly be. However, he could not offer me the next direct TGV to Brussels using my pass as the Interrail quota had been used up for that train. He could only offer me a very late service going via Paris and taking longer or a direct TGV on the next day. He explained that this was due to RENFE ESPANA not co-operating with SNCF France. At this point, I gave up and paid another 139 Euros to take the train I was entitled to use with my Interrail Pass. To add insult to injury, there were no ticket controls at the escalator leading to the platform and I was not even checked on the train. After a 15-minute late arrival in Brussels, I made a quick connection onto the Belgian IC train which arrived on time in Ghent at 10.29 – the only train of the day that arrived on time.

A FEW CONCLUSIONS:

As an experienced rail user with fairly good language skills, I still found these 2 journeys extremely stressful.This kind of expereince would be more than enough to put off occasional rail users for ever.

If I had known sooner about the cancellation for Journey 1, I could have taken an earlier local train to Narbonne or a taxi to Nimes TGV to join my booked train for Barcelona.

AND SOME ADVICE:

  • Always check real time information about your first train as early as possible and before leaving your accomodation.
  • Carry as much printed information about your passenger rights to show Railway staff.
  • To avoid all this stress, should you pay for and make a 2nd reservation in case your  original connecting service is missed?

Nigel Perkins – February 2025