Spun-off from my recent Nice and Back Trip Report:
1. The TER networks (and local bus services) I observed have been transformed in the last few years, but the PACA (Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur) network seems to be a victim of its own success, with trains along the Grasse-Ventimiglia route consnstently full to packed; I don't think that was entirely down to the rugby.
Judging by the numbers travelling with heavy baggage, it might also be picking up passengers from a TGV network that consistently loads to 100%, at least at weekends, and increasingly concentrates on its core HS network. (There are hardly any Province-Province TGVs beyond Marseille, for example.)
2. There were rather more of the BB22xxx plus Corail sets (8 cars with a driving trailer) than I expected along the old PLM route (Paris-)Dijon-Lyon-Marseille-Nice, even including a Sunday evening Dijon-Paris (I thought that section was all units already). Paris Nord was also surprisingly well supplied with hauled stock mid-morning on Monday 2 October
3. The TGVs we travelled on seemed to be showing their age, with iffy aircon and defective toilets. Maybe we were just unlucky, but I wasn't wildly impressed, though punctuality at least was excellent; this is no doubt helped by the ample reserves of units and relaxed turnround times (in the South - North of Paris tight turn rounds seem common, as low as 15min in GdN on the Dunkerque/Boulogne route, and 25min on the Paris-Lille shuttle.
4. An afterthought on Interrail in France: booking at 6 weeks' notice (which was necessary for us) it was still significantly cheaper than individual tickets, especially from Up North, despite all those supplements/reservations. (Late booking did mean we were unable to use our preferred Eurostars).
1. The TER networks (and local bus services) I observed have been transformed in the last few years, but the PACA (Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur) network seems to be a victim of its own success, with trains along the Grasse-Ventimiglia route consnstently full to packed; I don't think that was entirely down to the rugby.
Judging by the numbers travelling with heavy baggage, it might also be picking up passengers from a TGV network that consistently loads to 100%, at least at weekends, and increasingly concentrates on its core HS network. (There are hardly any Province-Province TGVs beyond Marseille, for example.)
2. There were rather more of the BB22xxx plus Corail sets (8 cars with a driving trailer) than I expected along the old PLM route (Paris-)Dijon-Lyon-Marseille-Nice, even including a Sunday evening Dijon-Paris (I thought that section was all units already). Paris Nord was also surprisingly well supplied with hauled stock mid-morning on Monday 2 October
3. The TGVs we travelled on seemed to be showing their age, with iffy aircon and defective toilets. Maybe we were just unlucky, but I wasn't wildly impressed, though punctuality at least was excellent; this is no doubt helped by the ample reserves of units and relaxed turnround times (in the South - North of Paris tight turn rounds seem common, as low as 15min in GdN on the Dunkerque/Boulogne route, and 25min on the Paris-Lille shuttle.
4. An afterthought on Interrail in France: booking at 6 weeks' notice (which was necessary for us) it was still significantly cheaper than individual tickets, especially from Up North, despite all those supplements/reservations. (Late booking did mean we were unable to use our preferred Eurostars).