France - railways, public transport, services and incidents (merged posts)

[whole diary]

[Red Squirrel]

Indeed. Until recently they used St Andrews Crosses rather than signal lights. And the trains don't even necessarily need to be going in opposite directions; I've been stuck on a northbound train on an even-numbered platform (i.e. at the country end) waiting for another northbound train on the odd-numbered end of the same platform to leave to clear our path.

I have noticed that trains on even-numbered platforms seem to stop a long way short of the 'join', sometimes beyond the canopy, which can be irksome!

[grahame]

Indeed. Until recently they used St Andrews Crosses rather than signal lights. And the trains don't even necessarily need to be going in opposite directions; I've been stuck on a northbound train on an even-numbered platform (i.e. at the country end) waiting for another northbound train on the odd-numbered end of the same platform to leave to clear our path.

I have noticed that trains on even-numbered platforms seem to stop a long way short of the 'join', sometimes beyond the canopy, which can be irksome!

Stacking is not new ... it was even done routinely at platform 2 in Swindon from December 2013, with a 2 car 150 parked up on long turnover on the Cheltenham service parked against the buffers while a single carriage 153 buzzed in from Westbury and back out at the extreme end of the platform.  That has now changed, with the Cheltenham trains running to / from London, and the Westbury service of necessity now 2 or 3 carriages.

[GBM]

Joining still done at Plymouth.

[eightonedee]

Also happens (or used to before I retired last year!) on the bay platforms 4-6 at Reading. Sometimes two North Downs trains would be on one platform, so confused passengers would try to get in the nearer/inner one only to be shooed further up the platform to join "the front train". On one occasion in the evening we arrived at one of the platforms behind an SWT^▸ (South West Trains) train that was due to depart shortly (so therefore in front of it from a departure point of view) resulting in loud unhappy comments from its crew.

Back in the 1980s, a late train back home from London would involve a change for Tilehurst, then my home station. On Platform 8 (if I recall the old numbering correctly - the through platform on the relief lines on the central island platforms) there would be a single car "Bubble Car") that would be the stopping train towards Didcot on the west end, and a 3-car unit at the eastern end that would be a "stopper" back towards London. The west facing bay platform 6 (remember that?) was occupied by a Midland region unit that was the something past one unit that stopped everywhere on the way to Birmingham and connected unofficially with the Midnight Riviera for those who ignored "pick-up only" at Reading for an even later train home!

[stuving]

Joining still done at Plymouth.

And lots of other places, both here and in France - which was the point of the question "why are SNCF^▸ (Societe Nationale des Chemins de fer Francais - French National Railways) making such a big fuss?".

The key seems to be in the claim that making this a signalled move saves a lot of time. That does not seem to be the case, or not so marked, her so I guess the rules in France are more restrictive and cautious. If so, that is one reason there would be less reason to do it here, though I'm sure here are those who would advocate it just to reduce the risk.

The other reason given, that it's a cheap alternative to building platforms, applies much more in France. At Rennes the platforms are all 400 m long, and apart from double-length TGVs^▸ (Train a Grande Vitesse) there can't be many trains that long. However, the same logic does apply here, for the short local/regional trains we have.

The final selection criterion is having congestion and  suitable movements: basically two trains leaving in opposite directions. That can't be very common here or in France.

[Sulis John]

Two trains scheduled to depart in opposite directions may well be a frequent occurrence if you have services terminating from opposite directions and not running through. Think Ormskirk and mentally remove the buffer stops, for example.

[GBM]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67129490

Hundreds of members and staff of the European Parliament had a surprise when their train from Brussels to the French city of Strasbourg ended up at Disneyland Paris instead.

[CyclingSid]

If it was our lot you would just assume it was a visit to a different fantasy land!

[Kernow Otter]

Increasingly difficult to differentiate between the two Mickey Mouse organizations.

[stuving]

Two more night train services from Paris started at the weekend - to Aurillac on Sunday and from Berlin (with Nightjet) yesterday. Like other night trains they offer seats, couchettes, and cabins, (also typically) neither runs every night. The news report I saw of the Aurillac ones - reintroduced after a gap of 20 years - was convinced these trains would be going de-dum de-dum (which sounds very similar in French).

[Mark A]

This Aurillac? Attempting to work out the route...

Mark


https://www.google.com/maps/@44.9280482,2.4003895,10973m/data=!3m1!1e3!5m1!1e2?entry=ttu

[Mark A]

*Finds the route* OK, the Aurillac train will use infrastructure such as this. (The overbridge at the tunnel portal is the same road that crosses the line, hairpin-bend-climbing the valley side...)

Mark

https://www.google.com/maps/@44.9799216,2.0284642,3a,75y,272.68h,83.52t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sdE9boWfjTG6DhC7nvsZ4wQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!5m1!1e2?entry=ttu

[stuving]

*Finds the route* OK, the Aurillac train will use infrastructure such as this. (The overbridge at the tunnel portal is the same road that crosses the line, hairpin-bend-climbing the valley side...)

Yes, a bit rustic, isn't it? Of course the minimalist railway line still leads to a proper-sized station in Aurillac.

And the train fits that rustic image - three carriages tacked on the end of the existing night train to Rodez (and Albi on Fridays), where it stays for five hours before its final trundle up to Aurillac. It calls at the major metropolises of Laroquebrou, Bretenoux-Biars and Saint-Denis près Martel.

[Mark A]

Now wondering if a: accompanied bikes would be ok and b: if they are, whether there'd be the same shenanigans imposed as at Edinburgh, where passengers with cycles, when the train is divided, are required to be up and about to transfer them between portions.

Mark

[stuving]

Now wondering if a: accompanied bikes would be ok and b: if they are, whether there'd be the same shenanigans imposed as at Edinburgh, where passengers with cycles, when the train is divided, are required to be up and about to transfer them between portions.

Mark

Somewhere I saw, in a description of the new generation of sleeper stock, that they include space for bicycles. The French services are still using 70s Corail coaches, albeit done up. I imagine the new ones they are ordering are likely to be the same as in Austria etc.