Cross Paris RER

[WestRiding]

I have decided to travel from London to Innsbruck via rail, which includes having to get from Gare du Nord, to Gare du Lyon in 56 minutes. Is this possible without cutting it too fine, using RER line D?

 

[317666]

That should be plenty of time, the RER journey itself is only around ten minutes It's up to you if you want to allow more time in case of Eurostar delays etc.

 

[WestRiding]

That should be plenty of time, the RER journey itself is only around ten minutes It's up to you if you want to allow more time in case of Eurostar delays etc.

Thanks, if I allow more time at Paris, I get left with 14 mins at Zurich, so I cant win, and im not sure TGV is too punctual heading into Switzerland.

 

[Disorientxpres]

Take care with the signposting though. Some years ago my party got split up and some people went through the wrong barriers to the Metro.

 

[Oscar]

No, it's about the right length of time. The journey time on RER D is 8 minutes. Normally the trains run about every 7-8 minutes. If there's a cancellation you can get RER B to Châtelet and then RER A from there to Gare de Lyon (these trains travel on the same route as RER D), the walk at Châtelet is only a few metres. Gare du Nord and Gare de Lyon are large stations, it will take you a few minutes to walk from the long-distance trains (at roughly street level) to the RER platforms underground via passageways with shops on an intermediate level. You can physically get from one train to another in as little as 15 minutes or so if you know where you're going and are in a hurry, I'd imagine it'd take most people who haven't done it before about 30 minutes. Your long-distance tickets will not include the RER. Eurostar trains normally arrive on time or a few minutes late if there are operational issues which cause the train to slow down during the journey. In 2015 90.2% of trains arrived within 15 minutes. Major disruption does occur reasonably often (e.g. infrastructure or signalling problems/strikes/snow) but the delay may well be several hours.

Punctuality into Switzerland is generally good. If the train loses its path between Basel and Zürich there will be problems as the capacity is used intensively.

 

[endecotp]

Last time I did this, there was a long queue of people at the first ticket machine that you find if you follow the RER signs at the Gare du Nord. Keep walking around the next corner and there is a row of identical machines with no queue.

No problem doing this in 56 mins.

 

[317666]

The journey time on RER D is 8 minutes.

When you're actually moving I find it's pretty common for trains on the D to be held at Nord for a while for a train or two on the B to go in front. Don't let that worry you though!

Agreed with the above post about ticket machines, they're scattered around throughout the suburban side of the station so with a bit of walking you can usually find a vacant one.

 

[edwin_m]

You can also buy tickets for cross-Paris journeys on the Eurostar or even at the information desk in the departures hall at St Pancras (the Metro T+ ticket is also valid for RER journeys within the city boundary). I think they mark them up a bit from the standard price, but that may be worth paying for the time saving and not having to faff around understanding the machine and feeding it with cash in a location with a rather poor reputation for pickpocketing.

 

[WestRiding]

Thanks, I feel more at ease now, especially if able to buy RER tickets on eurostar

 

[Gordon]

Agree with others that 56 mins is about right. Alternatively, 1 hour 56 mins would allow you to have a meal at the amazing Belle Epoque "Train Bleu" restaurant in Gare de Lyon...

Gare de Lyon is quite complex so finding the correct platform can take up a few minutes. Definitely worth the peace of mind of having Paris transport tickets in advance - I've still got usable tickets bought several years ago!

Every so often TGVs will be delayed in France and not run the final leg from Basel - Zurich



.

 

[WestRiding]

Every so often TGVs will be delayed in France and not run the final leg from Basel - Zurich



.

If that does happen, is Basel to Zurich an easy journey on an alternative service?

 

[Polarbear]

If that does happen, is Basel to Zurich an easy journey on an alternative service?

Yes, there's a frequent service that takes around an hour - usually at least 2 trans per hour for most of the day.

 

[Hadders]

When I travelled on Eurostar back in December they had no Paris transport tickets in stock so I had to buy on arrival.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

When I travelled on Eurostar back in December they had no Paris transport tickets in stock so I had to buy on arrival.

Last year staff on the desk in the terminal at St Pancras told me they were planning on stopping selling them altogether*.

Has this now been implemented?





*For the avoidance of confusion: this means at Euorstar, not that the tickets are being abolished.

 

[edwin_m]

I've made several Eurostar journeys in the past year and only on the last couple do I recall any announcement about Metro tickets being for sale on the information desk. So perhaps they always sold them but nobody knew, or they started doing so as an experiment.

Certainly beats trying to buy them in the buffet, when on one occasion the server delighted in telling me that they were closed "as we arrive in 15min" a good half hour before getting to Paris.

 

[MrGrumpy]

Eurostar do regularly sell the set of 10 T+ tickets in the bar cars, however, they have a limited supply that sells out quicker than you can get to the bars. There is a small mark-up but not much more than the TVMs in Paris.