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Can wheelchair board French intercity train?

We want to use intercity trains in France (Paris-Bayeux, Paris-Rouen), and have heard that the doors to these trains are only 24.5" wide (62 cm). My husband's wheelchair is 26.5" wide (68 cm). (He can't get out of the wheelchair to stand up or walk to his seat; he can't use his legs at all.) Does SNCF provide a small rolling chair (like an airplane aisle chair) that they can use to put my husband into and onto the train, and then into his seat?

I have called SNCF several times on their English customer service line, but they keep telling me they are too busy and to call back later. Raileurope has no information. I can't find any information online.

We also want to take a TGV train (Paris-Avignon), and I have heard these trains have wider doors that the wheelchair can get through.

Posted by
19654 posts

Have you called the accessibilty phone number. Info on this site, but all in French, so you need to open in Chrome and use the translate function. Bayeux, Rouen (Rive Droite) ans St Lazare stations have wheel chair assisitance with advance arrangements. It also looks that some platforms are not at door level, so they have ramps.
https://www.accessibilite.sncf.com/

Posted by
23178 posts

The issue I see is that entry to many trains is not platform level. Most have two or three steep steps to get into the carriage. You need to talk direct with the SNCF. Rail Europe is a travel agency selling train tickets. It is going to be problem. On a personal note - a few years we scouted Italy and Germany with the idea of bring my mother who used a wheel chair about half time. She could stand and walk a couple blocks but it was much easier with a wheelchair. Decide it was going to be a big problem as it is as handicap friendly as the US.

Posted by
6 posts

Thank you all for your efforts to reply. However, I have already exhausted the information available online from SNCF (I translated many pages using Google), and cannot get them to answer their customer support line for English speakers. Yes, the stations provide assistance, and they probably provide lifts and ramps so that the wheelchair can roll onto the train - that is pretty standard practice for train stations. However, if the doors are only 24.5" wide, then my husband cannot board the train in his chair, which is 26.5" wide. I am trying to verify the information I received regarding the width of the doors. Also, if the doors are indeed that narrow, do they have a small aisle chair like the airlines use to take someone onto the train (the wheelchair is then folded for travel)? If anyone has this information, I would very much appreciate it.

Posted by
6 posts

For Frank: We spent time in Italy a couple of years ago, and planned our trip using Sage Travel. I highly recommend them if you want to take your mother to Europe. There are some things that will you will not be able to do, but you can do a lot with proper planning.

Posted by
3656 posts

I don't know if you have tried this but I would e-mail your questions to accesplus@sncf.fr. It will take about a week to get a response or perhaps I should say that it took a week for me to get a response to my question about the trains. Trying to call was a complete waste of my time.

Posted by
6 posts

Thank you to all who have replied. I found out that if you make advance arrangements with Accesplus, the train station will provide a smaller wheelchair to get the person through the door, and then fold up the manual wheelchair and bring it on board. This is the process for the intercity trains. This wouldn't work with a power chair that is wider than 24.5 inches, since it can't fold.

Posted by
26840 posts

Thank you for reporting back. This information will be helpful to others in the future.