InterRail Forum

[Peter]

TGV | PEAK PERIOD - Problem of getting a reservation for a TGV train traveling with InterRail / Eurail



In peak travel times, it is often a problem to get a seat reservation for a French TGV train.
The problem is: on the main and long routes, there are only TGV trains running. Sometimes you can use slower Regional trains, sometimes there is one normal train per day left, but in most cases a TGV is the only and best solution.
To get an impression about peak travel times concerning the supplement (EUR 3 or EUR 10 | see as well the information of sidhamo2 bellow):
www.ter-sncf.com/Alsace/tarifs/calendrier/calendriervoyageur.asp



Read the information of sidhamo2 bellow which should be the solution for you to get a seat even if no more seats are left for Rail Pass travelers.

[sidhamo2]

RESERVATIONS ON TGV
The peak period price only applies if you are traveling on a part of high speed track. For example if you go from Lyon to Toulouse(High speed track from Lyon to Nimes)it will be 10€ or more. But if you only go from Nimes to Toulouse, on the same TGV, even though it's a "TGV pointe", your reservation will only be 3€ or even less.



GET A SEAT IN A TGV EVEN IF THERE ARE NO MORE LEFT FOR RAIL PASS TRAVELERS
THE MAIN TROUBLE for Interrail pass holders with the French train reservation system, is that half of the TGV don't even have seats for Interrail pass holders!
So, the only way, if the TGV you want to take has no seats for interrail (they may tell you at the counter:"there are no more seats available on this train for interrail passes") is to go in a French train station, to the machine that sells tickets: select you train and when it comes to selecting the type of client you are, press on "abonnement forfait 2e classe".
You will then get a reservation (1,50€ only) for the TGV you want. Then, 99% of contrôleurs will not make a fuss, because they know about the problem.If you happen to meet one of those 1% that do make a fuss, just tell them that the ticket machine doesn't deliver reservations for Interrail pass holders, therefore, this was the only solution left for you!
(Anyway, lack of reservation or having the wrong type is max 20€ fine)

[flow]

That's very interesting and useful information, thank you!


Flo

[ben123]

This has been a real pain for me in the past.

You can also get the "Abot. Forfait 2e" over the web and pick it up at a SNCF train station. If you goto www.tgv-europe.com (and on the relevant country site) you can select "More Criteria" in the booking section and then select "2nd class daily" in the box stating "your season ticket". This is a reservation only (1,50euro) - for use with 'season tickets' and not necessarily for interrail tickets, but I've never had problems. As pointed-out above even in the ticket inspector catches you out you can 'play the dumb tourist' which may get you off the hook or pay the 20euro fine (much less than the full fare in most cases).

I would always advise you to try and get the interrail reservation, but in my case, 2 times out of 3 these tickets are unavailable with no alternative routes. This is really not friendly of SNCF and makes me jealous of interrailers in the UK who don't need to buy any reservations and their being few, if not any, controls on the use of interrail tickets.

[x2000traveller]

You can always try just boarding the TGV without a reservation. Ask the controleur on the platform first and this generally seems to work if the train isn't too full. There is a 'tarif a bord' and they seem to charge about €10-20 extra for this, so the best route is to get a reservation before boarding. The number of seats open to Interrail travel seems to be very, very low and the difficulty in obtaining reservations, particularly if buying outside France, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium (whose computer reservation systems seem to be able to cope with IR whereas others can't) is very, very high. This means that IR (unfortunately) is very hard to use in France and I think the official IR website should make this clear!

[galactica2001]

I've just made a reservation for a TGV for Nice Ville at the Paris St.Lazare station - 18 eur ! The attendant told me there is no difference in the price if I go at 9,45 (=peak) or 11,45 (not peak). On the ticket it says it's valid with IR, so i guess it must be the right thing. But 18 eur...

[flow]

Hmm...I'm gonna check tomorrow at my station in Graz, Austria what they charge for a TGV reservation.

[Peter]

UPDATE (14.06.2010)
I found at the FAQ of the Corail Lunea website (the French night trains - which also belong to SNCF like the TGV trains) this information:

Q : Je possède un Pass Interrail, existe-t-il un supplément pour voyager à bord de Lunéa ?
R : Pour les possesseurs de Pass Interrail, un supplément forfaitaire est appliqué en fonction de la classe de confort choisie.
http://lunea.voyages-sncf.com/lunea/La_foire_aux_questions_lunea

So it seems that you do not need a special kind of InterRail reservation (at least for the CORAIL night trains), the normal "supplément forfaitaire" option should be fine as well - and it is the official way for Corail night trains.
I suppose it might be the case as well for TGV trains!?!?
If you want to buy it online, visit the website voyages-sncf.com and buy your ticket choosing the option "Abo Forfait 2e".

Peter

[ohvkoors]

Hi there,
What kind of ticket vending machine actually sells these reservations "abonnement forfait 2e classe" for the whole country? I understand that not the one for Ile-de-France (parisbytrain.com/paris-train-ticket-machine/) because it only works for the area in and around Paris.
Thanks ahead!

[flow]

Hi!

Usually there are two kinds of ticket machines at the SNCF stations:

- Blue ones which sell only tickets for regional services (TER branded)
- Yellow ones which sell also long distance tickets (Grandes Lignes)


Flo

[ReinaMora]

I posted this on a new topic but it belongs here:

From interrailnet.com

The French railways (SNCF) have announced two changes in the reservation fees of TGV high-speed trains:

* The compulsory reservation of a seat now costs 6 euro for InterRail Pass holders, instead of 3 euro before.
* If there are no seats left for the 6 euro fare, InterRailers can now make last-minute reservations locally for a 'peak fare' of 18 euro.

The number of seats allocated to InterRail Pass holders is limited. In the past, when there were no seats left at the cheap fare, InterRail travellers could not board the train or they had to pay the full fare.

Please note: these new seat reservation fees are only valid for domestic routes within France.

I did a question in gv-europe.com about how could I make reservations for TGV using Interrail. They answered I couldn't do it online, instead I had to:

a. Do the reservation at a french SNCF station
b. Contact a SNCF agent on this phone +33 (0) 892 35 35 37
c. Contact the Rail Europe Boutique in my country (they delivered adress and phone)

Hope the info helps

[flow]

The question remains if the 10€ peak reservation still exists or if all reservations are 6€. I have been to my local station several times during the last weeks and they had no information in ÖBB Intranet about a change of reservation fees for TGV...
I'll try to get it confirmed this week...thanks for the info anyway.


Flo