FIP fares on TER from Grenoble to Geneva

[TheWierdOne]

Good morning one and all

I’m hoping the international side of the Forum hive mind can help me out here. I’m hoping to day trip from Grenoble to Geneva while using FIP facilities. I have a FIP card and coupons for France, but no coupons for Switzerland. Is it possible to travel on my card as far as the last French station on the direct Grenoble-Geneva TER (Bellegarde-sur-Valserine), and then use a FIP fare if available (or regular fare if not) from there to Geneva?

Ta very muchly

 

[Watershed]

As per the RSTL guide for France, the boundary point for FIP validity is Geneva station itself when coming from Bellegard:

France

Rail Delivery Group partners with Britain's train operators, delivering the services, data and expertise behind Britain's railway.

www.raildeliverygroup.com

Therefore an SNCF FIP coupon is valid all the way to Geneva. Not sure if reservations are required on those TER services (an increasing number seem to require them!) but otherwise you'd be ok to jump onboard.

 

[TheWierdOne]

As per the RSTL guide for France, the boundary point for FIP validity is Geneva station itself when coming from Bellegard:

France

Rail Delivery Group partners with Britain's train operators, delivering the services, data and expertise behind Britain's railway.

www.raildeliverygroup.com

Therefore an SNCF FIP coupon is valid all the way to Geneva. Not sure if reservations are required on those TER services (an increasing number seem to require them!) but otherwise you'd be ok to jump onboard.

Thank you! I realised I had more time than I thought so was able to check at Grenoble ticket office just now and they confirmed this.

As a side note even if you speak French the TER ticket office staff will send you to the TGV office because they say it’s an international problem, and the TGV staff will send you back to the TER office because it’s a TER problem. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[rvdborgt]

Therefore an SNCF FIP coupon is valid all the way to Geneva. Not sure if reservations are required on those TER services (an increasing number seem to require them!) but otherwise you'd be ok to jump onboard.

Reservations are not possible on these TERs.

 

[Rab Smith]

You only need an SNCF coupon and there are no reservations required from/to Geneva and Bellegarde. Plenty of seats on the train I used.

 

[Gordon]

Good morning one and all

I’m hoping the international side of the Forum hive mind can help me out here. I’m hoping to day trip from Grenoble to Geneva while using FIP facilities. I have a FIP card and coupons for France, but no coupons for Switzerland. Is it possible to travel on my card as far as the last French station on the direct Grenoble-Geneva TER (Bellegarde-sur-Valserine), and then use a FIP fare if available (or regular fare if not) from there to Geneva?

Ta very muchly

I wonder if you have missed a vital nuance of European railway geography. In a fair number of cases, railway lines cross physical borders but the 'ownership' of the line 'ignores' the physical border and changes at the nearest main station. If you are using FIP (and certain other rail passes for non railwaymen) always check thoroughly which railway organisation operates a certain line.

I have put Geneva first in my list below:

Some of the most well known railway borders in western Europe include:

Geneva: SNCF operates into 'French' platforms at Geneve Cornavin station so Geneve Cornavin acts as an SNCF station; the line crosses the actual border roughly 20km west at Challex

Basel: SNCF trains run into Basel SNCF station. The physical border is about 5km north at St Johann

Domodossola: Swiss railways trains run through the Simplon tunnel to Domodossola. The track is owned by Switzerland even though the infrastructure is Italian. The physical border is 25km north under the Simplon pass.

Buchs SG: Austrian Federal Railways operates into Buchs SG (Switzerland) , having left physical Austrian territory at the Austria/Liechtenstein border 10km east.

Ventimiglia: SNCF trains run into Ventimiglia (Italy) having crossed out of French territory about 7km to the West

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

I wonder if you have missed a vital nuance of European railway geography. In a fair number of cases, railway lines cross physical borders but the 'ownership' of the line 'ignores' the physical border and changes at the nearest main station. If you are using FIP (and certain other rail passes for non railwaymen) always check thoroughly which railway organisation operates a certain line.

I have put Geneva first in my list below:

Some of the most well known railway borders in western Europe include:

Geneva: SNCF operates into 'French' platforms at Geneve Cornavin station so Geneve Cornavin acts as an SNCF station; the line crosses the actual border roughly 20km west at Challex

Basel: SNCF trains run into Basel SNCF station. The physical border is about 5km north at St Johann

Domodossola: Swiss railways trains run through the Simplon tunnel to Domodossola. The track is owned by Switzerland even though the infrastructure is Italian. The physical border is 25km north under the Simplon pass.

Buchs SG: Austrian Federal Railways operates into Buchs SG (Switzerland) , having left physical Austrian territory at the Austria/Liechtenstein border 10km east.

Ventimiglia: SNCF trains run into Ventimiglia (Italy) having crossed out of French territory about 7km to the West

Also, unusually for Switzerland, electrification from Bellegarde to Geneva is 25kV AC (was 1500V DC). The SNCF platforms at Basel are also 25kV AC but they are to be rebuilt and the changeover point moved to the border.