SNCF - getting hold of PDF timetables etc

[nw1]

Hi,

This is not for an actual trip or any practical usage but merely curiosity.

Is there anywhere where one can get hold of PDF timetables for SNCF services?

I've tried searching "horaires SNCF" or "horaires TER" but drawing a blank - it does come up with a "display departures from a given station" page which is quite useful for quieter stations but less so for larger stations as it only displays a few hours' worth of servics.

My main interest is comparing the current service in certain parts of France with what existed when I went on holiday there in the 80s. As I said, no particular practical reason other than curiosity.

Thanks.

 

[The exile]

For long-distance, these are no longer produced. For ter services, go to ter.sncf.com - choose a region, then “se deplacer” then “fiches horaires”. That’s what our German friends at DSO say, anyway.

 

[RT4038]

Hi,

This is not for an actual trip or any practical usage but merely curiosity.

Is there anywhere where one can get hold of PDF timetables for SNCF services?

I've tried searching "horaires SNCF" or "horaires TER" but drawing a blank - it does come up with a "display departures from a given station" page which is quite useful for quieter stations but less so for larger stations as it only displays a few hours' worth of servics.

My main interest is comparing the current service in certain parts of France with what existed when I went on holiday there in the 80s. As I said, no particular practical reason other than curiosity.

Thanks.

Try https://www.ter.sncf.com/occitanie/se-deplacer/fiches-horaires for Occitane area

Change Occitanie to whichever region you want.

 

[nw1]

Try https://www.ter.sncf.com/occitanie/se-deplacer/fiches-horaires for Occitane area

Change Occitanie to whichever region you want.

Thanks - that's the one.

EDIT: taking a quick look at the services round Aurillac (Cantal), while a number of smaller stations have closed the service seems to be actually somewhat better (slightly more services, a better approximation to clockface, better mainline connections) than back in the 80s, in contrast to some things I've read about French rural services deteriorating within that time frame.

 

[NCT]

It seems that there's been some kind of quality resurgence in TERs since responsibility transferred to regional authorities.

 

[signed]

For long-distance, these are no longer produced

They may not be produced anymore by SNCF but the theoritical is presumably still available in the ex-Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable

European Rail Timetable

Concise printed timetables, maps and guides for rail services in Europe

www.europeanrailtimetable.eu

 

[AdamWW]

They may not be produced anymore by SNCF but the theoritical is presumably still available in the ex-Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable

They certainly are, though many tables come with warnings that the timings may vary by a few minutes from those shown and for some overnight services "timings and running days may vary".

It must be very useful for transport companies not to have to have a timetable simple enough to be sensibly printed out and to be able to vary their services from day to day far more than was practical in the past.

Not always so helpful when doing trip planning though.

 

[signed]

Not always so helpful when doing trip planning though.

It's SNCF playbook all along, they want to make the service as opaque as possible for reasons.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 24 Jun 2025 ==

Though technically the backend GTFS still exists and could easily be used to craft nice SNCF timetables.

Réseau SNCF TGV, Intercités et TER - Données (GTFS, NeTEx, SIRI Lite, gtfs-rt) ouvertes - National

Rendre disponible, valoriser et améliorer les données transports

transport.data.gouv.fr

Théorique : les horaires des lignes TER, Intercités et TGV opérées par la SNCF Voyageurs pour les 151j à venir, sont fournis au format GTFS et au format NeTEx (qui est la norme technique européenne pour l’échange de données de transport). Les fichiers sont disponibles aux liens suivants :

Theoretical: the timetables for TER, Intercités and TGVs operated by the SNCF Travellers for the next 151 days are supplied in GTFS format and in NeTEx format (which is the European technical standard for the exchange of transport data). The files are available at the following links:

Another project to add to the to make pile

 

[AdamWW]

Though technically the backend GTFS still exists and could easily be used to craft nice SNCF timetables.

Could be used to craft timetables, yes, but perhaps not nice ones.

I imagine there's a reason that the European Timetable team haven't attempted to capture all of this in their printed version.

 

[signed]

Could be used to craft timetables, yes, but perhaps not nice ones.

Graphically nice meaning. Garbage in/Garbage out as always.

 

[rvdborgt]

Could be used to craft timetables, yes, but perhaps not nice ones.

I imagine there's a reason that the European Timetable team haven't attempted to capture all of this in their printed version.

Graphically nice meaning. Garbage in/Garbage out as always.

I remember an article in Today's Railways from many years ago, with a title along the lines of "Why we don't like French timetables", with multiple examples, such as many more footnotes than trains.

 

[signed]

I remember an article in Today's Railways from many years ago, with a title along the lines of "Why we don't like French timetables", with multiple examples, such as many more footnotes than trains.

I don't doubt that a single second.

 

[AdamWW]

I remember an article in Today's Railways from many years ago, with a title along the lines of "Why we don't like French timetables", with multiple examples, such as many more footnotes than trains.

I very much appreciate on-line travel planners.

In the days where printed timetables were all you got, figuring out footnotes in a foreign language wasn't always much fun. (No Google Translate either).

My personal low point was using a dictionary to decode footnotes on a Slovenian bus timetable to find out that one of the footnotes was to indicate that there was no footnote for that service.

At some point I also had a dictionary which incorrectly translated the word for "except" as "also", which didn't help much with footnotes.

So while it does annoy me when I can't get a printed timetable, I'd rather have a travel planner and no timetable than the other way round.

 

[nw1]

Perhaps this is getting into a general discussion about SNCF TER service patterns versus the UK but one thing that is very noticeable is how very much the service ramps up in the peaks compared to the off-peak - even from some of the medium-sized regional cities (e.g Clermont-Ferrand). This is partly a function of relatively infrequent off-peak services at times, but also a function of especially frequent peak services - more than in the UK in some cases. For example I'm seeing a 2-hourly off-peak service with occasional gaps versus a half-hourly peak service on the Clermont-Ferrand to Moulins route.

That aspect reminds me very much of UK regional/provincial commuter services in the early or mid 80s, before sectorisation.

 

[HS2isgood]

Yeah, also how some regions have a well organised TER services and some are absolute clown cars, BFC being the worst.

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

Wrzlbrnft, a user on German DSO forum, compiles all the different TER timetable PDFs in one big file. They also create a self-made TGV/LGV timetable book.

Both are available here: https://gleisbaer.eu/lgv-kursbuch/

 

[D6130]

Yeah, also how some regions have a well organized TER services and some are absolute clown cars, BFC being the worst.

Sorry....what does BFC stand for ?

 

[rvdborgt]

Sorry....what does BFC stand for ?

I suppose Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.

 

[HS2isgood]

Sorry....what does BFC stand for ?

Bourgogne Franche Comté, they're even talking about more closures lmao, services are not clockface, timetables are absolutely erratic and they just chopped their second most used service, the Paris - Laroche slows, in two because of a disagreement with IdF (Ile-de-France)

 

[D6130]

I suppose Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.

Bourgogne Franche Comté, they're even talking about more closures lmao, services are not clockface, timetables are absolutely erratic and they just chopped their second most used service, the Paris - Laroche slows, in two because of a disagreement with IdF (Ile-de-France)

Thanks both! I'm not yet familiar with the names of all the new French super-regions.

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

Perhaps this is getting into a general discussion about SNCF TER service patterns versus the UK but one thing that is very noticeable is how very much the service ramps up in the peaks compared to the off-peak - even from some of the medium-sized regional cities (e.g Clermont-Ferrand). This is partly a function of relatively infrequent off-peak services at times, but also a function of especially frequent peak services - more than in the UK in some cases. For example I'm seeing a 2-hourly off-peak service with occasional gaps versus a half-hourly peak service on the Clermont-Ferrand to Moulins route.

That aspect reminds me very much of UK regional/provincial commuter services in the early or mid 80s, before sectorisation.

Some of this is a hangover from a traditional SNCF operational method, namely "marche a blanc". This refers to a white space in the timetable planning graph whereby no trains are run to allow time for track maintenance spot checks to be carried out. The precise time would vary from line to line but pretty much guaranteed a gap of at least 2 hours somewhere in the middle of the day. The practice is becoming less common as the French have come to understand the benefits of Takt timetabling.

 

[signed]

Yeah BFC is the worst by far. My main gripe is with regions that think they can rely on TGV for the main service and just add token TER service despite TGV being inflexible and 2x expensive at most times.

To go from Rennes to Brest or Quimper you have very roughly a whole day 1tp2h TGV, but only 2 TER morning, 1 TER midday and 2 TER evening.

 

[Alfonso]

For pure curiosity you might want to buy a slightly out of date paper timetable from European Timetable (the ex thomas cook timetable). They sell them very cheaply

 

[nw1]

and they just chopped their second most used service, the Paris - Laroche slows, in two because of a disagreement with IdF (Ile-de-France)

I can see that in the timetable. Interestingly they call themselves "Mobigo" - which reminds me a bit of UK-style franchising even though it's a different (region-based) system.

Stoppers originate from Montereau (which is a place I am superficially familiar with as it's the place with a couple of incongruous-looking tower blocks which you pass on the LGV perhaps half an hour out of Paris).

I presume the old pattern was some kind of service sharing between IdF and BFC on the part inbound from Montereau, but IdF wanted the full pie rather than a slice?

Nonetheless it was interesting browsing the BFC timetables earlier. I see that Paris-Lyon "stoppers" still seem to exist, about once every 4 hours.
Furthermore the odd service from Paris terminates at the rural town of Clamecy, another place I remember from the journey south to Auvergne back in 1983. It's significant as it's where I first saw a French train, on what was IIRC a non-electrified single track. I presume these through services are bi-modes?

 

[stadler]

Here are the direct links to the PDF timetable pages for TER train for each of the 11 regions:

• SNCF TER Auvergne Rhone Alpes

Rechercher une fiche horaire | SNCF TER Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

www.ter.sncf.com

• SNCF TER Bourgogne Franche Comte

Rechercher une fiche horaire | SNCF TER Bourgogne-Franche-Comté

www.ter.sncf.com

• SNCF TER Bretagne

Rechercher une fiche horaire | SNCF TER Bretagne

www.ter.sncf.com

• SNCF TER Centre Val De Loire

Rechercher une fiche horaire | SNCF TER Centre-Val de Loire

www.ter.sncf.com

• SNCF TER Grand Est

Rechercher une fiche horaire | SNCF TER Grand Est

www.ter.sncf.com

• SNCF TER Hauts De France

Rechercher une fiche horaire | SNCF TER Hauts-de-France

www.ter.sncf.com

• SNCF TER Normandie

Rechercher une fiche horaire | SNCF TER Normandie

www.ter.sncf.com

• SNCF TER Nouvelle Aquitaine

Rechercher une fiche horaire | SNCF TER Nouvelle-Aquitaine

www.ter.sncf.com

• SNCF TER Occitanie

Rechercher une fiche horaire | SNCF TER Occitanie

www.ter.sncf.com

• SNCF TER Pays De La Loire

Rechercher une fiche horaire | SNCF TER Pays de la Loire

www.ter.sncf.com

• SNCF TER Sud Provence Alpes Cote D Azur

Rechercher une fiche horaire | SNCF TER Sud Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur

www.ter.sncf.com

If anyone is interested in trains in Corsica then these PDF timetables can also be downloaded:

• Chemins De Fer De La Corse (CFC)

Horaires | U Caminu di Ferru di a Corsica

cf-corse.corsica

Does anyone know where you can download the Transilien timetables and RER timetables? They certainly used to be available but i am struggling to find them any more? Timetables for RER A and RER B routes (the two routes that are run by RATP directly) are still available on the RATP website but everything else is gone?

• RER A:

Horaires

Vous le savez, les horaires du RER A sont amenés à changer en fonction des travaux et des périodes. C’est pourquoi, pour plus de praticité, ils vous sont désormais proposés via ce calendrier au moins pour les 21 prochains jours. Choisissez votre jour, votre direction et vous disposerez ainsi de...

malignea.fr

• RER B:

Horaires

Vous le savez, les horaires du RER B sont amenés à changer en fonction des travaux et des périodes. C’est pourquoi, pour plus de praticité, ils vous sont désormais proposés de manière simple et efficace via ce calendrier : choisissez votre jour, votre direction et vous disposez ainsi de votre...

maligneb.fr

I am surprised that the two routes with the most frequent service still have timetables but the Transilien routes and the other RER routes have nothing that i can find.

 

[signed]

Does anyone know where you can download the Transilien timetables and RER timetables?

It seems they only are downloadable as a custom from/to given stations 30 days PDF.

It's in SNCF playbook to do that

 

[LUYMun]

It would now appear that the webpages for the SNCF PDF timetables have gone to blank pages. The RER and Corsican ones are still fine however.

 

[stadler]

It would now appear that the webpages for the SNCF PDF timetables have gone to blank pages. The RER and Corsican ones are still fine however.

It looks like a bug with the SNCF website. The home pages of each of the 11 regions of TER still work and everything else on the site works. But when you click on "Fiches Hoarires" it just brings up a blank page. It is the same with the sites for all 11 regions. Definitely seems like some kind of error with the site. Hopefully it will get fixed soon.

 

[stadler]

It would now appear that the webpages for the SNCF PDF timetables have gone to blank pages. The RER and Corsican ones are still fine however.

SNCF appear to have fixed it and the TER timetable pages for all 11 regions are working fine now. Still the same links that i posted before. So it seems like it was just a website bug.

Also to add to my previous post it seems that TGV Lyria publish PDF timetables on their site:

TGV Lyria train timetables

All the timetables for all TGV Lyria services. Whether you’re travelling to France or Switzerland, we’ve got the train for you!

www.tgv-lyria.com

Horaires des trains TGV Lyria

Consultez l'ensemble des horaires des lignes TGV Lyria. Que vous partiez en France ou en Suisse, nous avons le train qu'il vous faut !

www.tgv-lyria.com

These are the TGV trains to and from Switzerland which are operated by a separately run joint SNCF and SBB/CFF/FFS company.