SNCF Ticket Checks (or lack of)

[Class999999]

Just spent around 2 weeks travelling around France,

• 5 trips between Paris and Calais,
• Lille to Amiens,
• Etaples to Lille on the regional TGV,
• Etaples to Avignon TGV
• Chambery to Etaples via Paris on TGV
• and lots of other local TERs down the south

And the only time I had my piece checked was at Gare du Lyon pre-boarding on the TGV, and then again on the same train, before the first stop (Avignon)
I am a guard myself, so understand chef de trains have their reasons to be occupied, but Paris to Calais on the classic line I believe, is DOO and most services have massive gaps between stations, compared to the lines I work where I am expected to go through 12 car commuter trains with stations 5 minutes apart. What is other peoples experience with gripping in France, is it mainly done via roaming enforcement staff or do onboard staff not get monitored on scans / sales etc?
Almost every train the chef de train came through greeting passengers.
Luckily I was using FIP coupons but these journeys would cost an eye watering amount, with open stations and rare checking the levels of fare evasion / avoidance must surely be high?

 

[Nigel]

My experience is that on French trains tickets are usually, but not always, checked. This compares with a trip to Germany last week, when I was not checked once on Deutsche Bahn - although this may be have been due to dire punctuality and/or overcrowding problems on virtually every train and the ticket inspectors not wishing to encounter their customers.
In France, I remember a trip I did in November 2023 (write up here) when on virtually every train there were thorough ticket checks, with at least one passenger being detained (on one occasion violently) by police who were either travelling on the train or were waiting on the platform when the train arrived. I don't know if this was some form of co-ordinated initiative to counter fare evasion occurring at that time. I have not seen anything similar on subsequent trips.

 

[Class999999]

My experience is that on French trains tickets are usually, but not always, checked. This compares with a trip to Germany last week, when I was not checked once on Deutsche Bahn - although this may be have been due to dire punctuality and/or overcrowding problems on virtually every train and the ticket inspectors not wishing to encounter their customers.
In France, I remember a trip I did in November 2023 (write up here) when on virtually every train there were thorough ticket checks, with at least one passenger being detained (on one occasion violently) by police who were either travelling on the train or were waiting on the platform when the train arrived. I don't know if this was some form of co-ordinated initiative to counter fare evasion occurring at that time. I have not seen anything similar on subsequent trips.

Interesting, What LORs were you travelling on?

 

[Nigel]

Interesting, What LORs were you travelling on?

On the November 2023 trip, I was on a variety of Regional TERs where I encountered police, including the Rhone region and LiLO (South West region). Also there were a group of youths detained at Paris Austerlitz, who had been on my InterCites train from Limoges.

 

[signed]

My experience is that it really depends on the region

On TGV (my experience being mostly to/from Paris Montparnasse) they always do unless it's full or there are significant disruptions
On TER Bretagne they do basically every time (even got my ticket checked by the railway police once)
On TER Normandie they seem to apply the TGV playbook of disruption == no checks

What they don't do usually is check multiple times unless a new crew gets on. Even if there is a sizeable part left.

 

[DeverseSam]

On TGVs, if they know that there should be 5 empty seats in a particular carriage, and see exactly that when they walk through, they don’t actually need to check tickets. Especially from a gated station

 

[AdamWW]

On TGVs, if they know that there should be 5 empty seats in a particular carriage, and see exactly that when they walk through, they don’t actually need to check tickets. Especially from a gated station

So long as nobody has bought a ticket with a discount they aren't entitled to. Or is that all checked on purchase now?

 

[Chriso]

My experience is that on the TER DOO routes RPI’s normally travel in groups of 3 but it seem to depend a lot about the region.

 

[stadler]

Out of interest which TER services are DOO currently? I have been on some TER services that have a guard and others without. I have never understood which ones are DOO and how it is decided. Is it only certain services or is it certain regions that run DOO services?

 

[Gordon]

My recent trips on French trains always included quiet a few ticket checks, so I don't think a 'blanket' comment can be made.

 

[Class999999]

Out of interest which TER services are DOO currently? I have been on some TER services that have a guard and others without. I have never understood which ones are DOO and how it is decided. Is it only certain services or is it certain regions that run DOO services?

The Paris to Calais classic route seems to have an OBS type role now, the driver dispatches with bodyside cameras and the chef de train just has a butchers, but doesn't do anything operationally.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Jul 2025 ==

On TGVs, if they know that there should be 5 empty seats in a particular carriage, and see exactly that when they walk through, they don’t actually need to check tickets. Especially from a gated station

Did find it odd how the train was non-stop from Paris to Avignon, ticket checked throughly by grippers at Gare du Lyon, and then again on the train before the first stop, whilst I was sat at the bar!
Its not like a short ticket to Maisons-Alfort would fool them at Gare du Lyon!

 

[zero]

Did find it odd how the train was non-stop from Paris to Avignon, ticket checked throughly by grippers at Gare du Lyon, and then again on the train before the first stop, whilst I was sat at the bar!
Its not like a short ticket to Maisons-Alfort would fool them at Gare du Lyon!

Same situation happens on Avanti too... the only thing you could do on departing Euston is sit in the wrong class

 

[sk688]

Took the TGV from Frankfurt-Strasbourg with no checks on my last Intercity trip

In a few days last weekend across the Ile De France region I had no onboard checks, but I was surprised by the expansion in ticket barriers in the suburbs compared to my previous visit

Also a revenue block at Versailles-Chantiers and got on a Versailles-Montparnasse TER just as revenue inspectors were getting off (requisite with someone that they had just fined & dragging him off)

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

I travel on TER Grand Est on a fairly regular basis around Strasbourg and it's very varied. Most days I'm not checked at all, but recently I went there twice and was checked on almost all trains. Although the two recent days were weekdays, whereas otherwise I'm usually there on weekends. Maybe they don't really check on weekends in Grand Est?

 

[route101]

No checks on TER out of Paris to Rouen and onto Dieppe.

 

[Lewisham2221]

Currently at least 5 staff checking tickets on a 4-car NOMAD service.

One curiousity I've noticed is that in the UK, guards tend to start their ticket checks at the back of the train, then walk back once they've finished, whereas in France they tend to walk straight through from the back to the front, then check tickets from front to back - in my experience at least.

 

[rvdborgt]

One curiousity I've noticed is that in the UK, guards tend to start their ticket checks at the back of the train, then walk back once they've finished, whereas in France they tend to walk straight through from the back to the front, then check tickets from front to back - in my experience at least.

The first time they pass, is to give the opportunity to anyone who hasn't get a ticket yet to ask them. Waiting for the actual ticket check is more expensive.