Changing at Avignon

[colchesterken]

Anyone know how the change from TGV to local works ?
I am going to Beziers, last yr I booked and had a 50m time change at Paris.
Train from London was about 10m late I was at the back of a 18 car train narrow platforms loads of people with luggage and the bloke with the catering trolley for the next train. London train came into 3 and I found the metro to Paris Lyon was from 44, Rush to find it
Paris Lyon is in 3 sections problem finding the TGV I ended up getting it with 5 mins to spare, with a non exchangeable fixed booking ticket, too much stress

I thought about getting the London to Avignon train and changing to SNCF There any one know how far the change is , Walk Bus or Taxi ?

Thanks folks

 

[Polarbear]

There is a TER shuttle service that operates between the TGV station & the old station. Runs fairly frequently as I recall.

Taxi could be an option as the two stations are not that far apart.

 

[30907]

50min is tight for crossing Paris!

There is a shuttle train from Avignon TGV to Avignon Centre (the old Ville), then a regular good quality TER service onwards. The disadvantage is that there are no cheap fares for that section.

You could also check out changing at Lille Europe, or (off the Eurostar Marseille train only) at Lyon Part-Dieu, for a TGV to Beziers.

On the return, changing at Lille Europe might be preferable to boarding the ES at Avignon and having to go through the security check at Lille!

 

[colchesterken]

Thanks for that , seems like a possibility not going till summer but this yrs time table looks like local to Beziers is only every 2 hrs

Still anything is better than Ryanair

 

[30907]

Thanks for that , seems like a possibility not going till summer but this yrs time table looks like local to Beziers is only every 2 hrs

True, but if you have a long wait at Avignon Centre, it's fairly central (!) and dumping bags and going for lunch or sightseeing would pass the time..

 

[MichaelAMW]

If you book on Eurostar's own web site you can choose your seat, so trying to be in coach 18 would help the platform congestion problem. A simple solution, which may however not fit your constraints but is not intended to be sarcastic, is to leave longer in Paris... I'm a great fan of the 65 bus, by the way, for getting between Nord and Lyon. Far less walking than the metro/RER and far fewer steps.

 

[colchesterken]

Hi Michael my problem was timings that is why I was looking at alternatives, As my handle suggests I am an hour from London, the TGV was 1305 taking into account the hour ahead time I was booked on the 8am from London with at least 30 min check in, meaning I had to get a train from Colchester at 5am I think it was the first train of the day

 

[30907]

In which case isn't an 0719 departure to Avignon going to be too early anyway?

1258 with one change at Lille is best but rather late

 

[colchesterken]

Thanks to everyone for your input, I am losing the will to go on holiday, seems last train to London and a night at St Pancras on the concourse may be the way forward .
I did not know the Avignon train was that early, and the 1258 will be too late
If only I still lived in my childhood home at Stratford I could get the night tube and arrive in good time for any train !

 

[30907]

0858 chänge Lille and Lyon, 1900 at Beziers, so rather slower.

 

[colchesterken]

This is getting silly!..That one is too late I need to arrive before 1800 that is why the TGV from lyon fitted in so well apart from the hairy change at Paris, it gets in about 1630 if I remember correctly
Coming back is fine the TGV at about 1230 gives a 2 hr stop over time to find myself have coffee and wait in the Eurostar lounge

 

[Hophead]

There is an 05:12 from Colchester to Liverpool Street on a Saturday, arriving 06:16. That gives you about half an hour to get to St. Pancras prior to check-in, which seems ample to me - the Circle / Met is up and running frequently.

 

[30907]

I fear (without bothering to check) that 63 minutes is rather less than the official allowance for the connection, meaning that the OP would have no comeback if they missed the ES.

However, the 40min cross-Paris connection off the 0752 is incredibly tight. The 1237 Paris to Avignon theoretically connects into an Avignon Centre-Beziers TER but the DB website - which usually allows tight connections - won't show it. If the 1800 deadline is absolute, I'm not sure this is advisable.

 

[colchesterken]

Thanks to everyone for the help with my holiday planning
I think ( subject to timetable changes in summer timetable ) that Hophead has it 0512 Colch 0719 St Pancras change at Avignon

Once again thanks to everyone