We will be traveling from Paris to Colmar in the early afternoon of 22 June, which is a scheduled strike day. Trains are scheduled about every hour. Helpful responses to other inquiries on this forum advise people that have purchased tickets that if their train is cancelled, just take the next one. My question is whether we should buy a ticket in advance, knowing that it might be cancelled, or just wait until we get to the train station? Do the trains fill up leaving standing room only (for a 2-1/2 hr trip!)? This is assuming that the strike is not resolved before we leave the US. Thanks in advance.
...follow up question: are the RER trains from CDG also included in the strike?
Posted by
Milwaukee WI
73 posts
The RER B train that leaves CDG for the city is included in the strike because it is run by the SNCF, the French National Railroad System.
Posted by
L'Occitanie, France
10632 posts
SNCF has not been selling tickets for strike days, so you may not be able to purchase one. Yes, you would stand for 2.5 hours unless you could scrounge up a seat somewhere. Before TGVs and required seat reservations, standing for hours was common. People stood in the aisles or the area between the cars. Still done on non-reserved intercity and local trains.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area
5697 posts
But I believe the Paris-Strasbourg-Colmar route is TGV --when our train was definitely cancelled we got another on the same date, one hour later, no problems. (Did the exchange the day before.) And yes, we got seat reservations.