Tight connections Lille and Lyon

[mad_rich]

Is this journey suicidal? It's very tight (illegal) connections, but it has the benefit of a fast service on the East Coast and not requiring a journey across Paris

0705 - 0940 Newcastle - King's Cross
1014 - 1254 St Pancras - Lille
1303 - 1600 Lille - Lyon
1608 - 1808 Lyon - Annecy
1815 - 1949 Annecy - St Gervais
2005 - 2048 St Gervais - Chamonix

I'm paying for the Eurostar with points, so would be willing to book into Business Premier for 10 minute check in.

Is the Lille connection just about doable? I've only been through Lyon once, but obviously it's a lot bigger station. I suspect that's the tightest transfer. The connections at Annecy and St Gervais are legal.

Any suggestions of which coach to sit in on the Eurostar and TGV would be appreciated.

Similarly, any other way of getting to Chamonix? Geneva then easyBus is also an option, but there's nothing from Lille. Direct Eurostar to Lyon is a possibility, but requires an overnight in London.

If I miss the connection at Lille or Lyon, there is another option departing Lyon at 1834, which would get me to Chamonix late the same day (although I guess I might have a job persuading anyone to accept my ticket?).

Thanks in advance.

 

[CMS]

There is no Business Premier on the 1014 London - Lille (trains 9074) so this will not work unless your LNER comes in early to KGX and you manage to check in by 0944 which is very unlikely given there is a 1024 to Paris and the 1014 continues from Lille to Disney so will be very busy if you are travelling in UK school holidays.

Could you take an earlier LNER train?

As for Lille, that TGV is formed of 9828 (coming from Brussels) and 5119 (starting at Lille) so if you get a ticket for 9828 you'll need to sit at the font of the Eurostar (carriages 11 and higher should be ok) and if it's 5119 aim for the lowest numbered carriage so that when you arrive at Lille you are near enough opposite your carriage on the platform 44/46 face. In this case I'd also recommend an e-ticket so that you don't have to find the chef de bord to "composter votre billet".

Lyon will be just about impossible unless you're lucky enough to have cross-platform interchange. Also, given that TGV intersecteurs are not very punctual, I would always have at least a 20 min margin.

Your trip is doable in a day though, but going via Paris and Bellegarde-sur-Valserine I'd imagine.

 

[mad_rich]

Thanks. I’ve just looked on Eurostar and discovered the same thing about Business Premier. I assumed it had sold out, or are you saying it’s not offered at all on that service?

Yes I could get an earlier LNER service. It’s a shame because I’d need to leave an hour earlier to arrive 30 minutes earlier, but that’s the least problematic part of my journey!

Thanks also for the useful information about the Lille transfer. Very helpful. It confirms my suspicion that Lille would probably be doable with a bit of planning (and no bad luck) while Lyon is a stretch too far

I’ve found a much more doable set of connections via Paris and Geneva, followed by bus.

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

I would say that you would be about 60% likely to do it. in reality you can check in to ES within the 30 minute window, but you may need to let the ES staff know when you get there that you are short of time: they may well then send you through the BP security lane (which tends to be emptier). I wouldn't try this connection on Friday or Saturday though because the ES departures area gets overwhelmed particularly badly on those days. Lille should be an x-platform interchange, or you may have to go up to concourse level and then back down onto the 'London' side of the station where some of the Southbound trains depart from. But this process is fairly quick, although you should get an e-ticket reservation on SNCF app to speed things up. Lyon Part-Dieu station is always fairly busy and is not helped by the fact that there are only two ways down from the platform to the concourse area and the concourse itself is often very congested. The Lille trains normally arrive on the East side of the station fairly punctually in my experience (possible 2-3 mins early if you are lucky), Annecy trains will normally depart on the West. But I can think you can just about do it, although not if you have heavy bags etc. I actually think the most difficult bit would be at Annecy itself because of the risk of late running of the train from Lyon and I expect if you miss the St. Gervais connection, the next one is the following day...
I would definitely get the SNCF app which gives real time information on the platform numbers of the connections. This is really essential at Lyon as information on 'correspondances' and departures here is not brilliant.

 

[Welby]

What is the date of travel?

 

[CMS]

I assumed it had sold out, or are you saying it’s not offered at all on that service?

Business Premier is only offered for cross-Channel passengers on trains terminating at Brussels or Paris (i.e. not the Disney, Marseille or Bourg St Maurice trains, the Amsterdam to Brussels trains or for passengers travelling wholly within Schengen). Eventually, it will be offered on all Amsterdam route trains but for now it's only for passengers departing from London.

Thanks also for the useful information about the Lille transfer. Very helpful. It confirms my suspicion that Lille would probably be doable with a bit of planning (and no bad luck) while Lyon is a stretch too far

The Lille trains normally arrive on the East side of the station fairly punctually in my experience (possible 2-3 mins early if you are lucky)

No problem. I must disagree over the punctuality of TGV intersecteurs though, they are often delayed and particularly over the recent SNCF strike period, they should not be relied on for tight connections like this. They are prone to disruption through the crew changes and attach/detachment of sets en-route. I can't find solid data for this but even a quick Google search shows Lille-Lyon TGVs are among the least punctual (69% on time, noting that for SNCF 'on time' for a TGV more than 3hrs end to end is within 15 mins, so the chances of making an 8 min connection are slim): https://www.capital.fr/entreprises-...-que-les-autres-le-classement-complet-1245607 At least if you travel via Paris you are less likely to get stuck.

 

[Welby]

There is Business Premier on all Eurostar trains EXCEPT Bourg, Disney & Marseille. There is certainly BP on Lille & Amsterdam services

 

[CMS]

There is Business Premier on all Eurostar trains EXCEPT Bourg, Disney & Marseille. There is certainly BP on Lille & Amsterdam services

There is no BP on the OP's train to Lille. All trains currently between London and Lille have BP apart from 9074 (OPs train) and 9084, which only stop to set passengers down at Lille because 9108 does not. There is also no BP for any passengers who do not go through the Tunnel regardless of destination (i.e. if going from Brussels to Calais, Lille to Brussels or Amsterdam to Brussels) so I would avoid generically saying that there is 'certainly BP on Lille & Amsterdam services'.

Eurostar trains FROM Amsterdam TO Brussels do not convey Business Premier (trains 9171, 9177, 9181).

 

[mad_rich]

Date is 23 July.

I've decided to go via Paris, on the 1024, which gives a (hopefully) easy connection onto the 1517 Gare de Lyon-Geneva, followed by the bus.

Although judging by this afternoon - when it took me 45 minutes from arriving at Business Premier check-in to arriving in the lounge - who knows?

 

[Segedunum]

The 0705 is rarely on time so you'd have probably have been internally screaming by about Retford

 

[Abpj17]

This weekend was chaos on eurostar passenger wise - St P was packed. Not sure outbound will be quite so bad on the Monday morning but it's not a journey I've done for a long time.

When I last went to Aix les Bains which is in the general region that was fortunately direct from Paris. The services are better/more direct during ski season. The mountains rather get in the way of quick, direct travel options.