Do trains in France run on time?

Impossible to say in advance. But 18 minutes is more than ample for a connection, since St Pierre des Corps is a very small station with only 2 platforms (4 tracks).

And quite often it's considered a shuttle train for the tgv that arrives.

Based on the last 3 trips, all high season in the summer of 2025, 2024, and 2023, all of 12 weeks with much of that traveling in France by train, TGV and regional, I would say the trains very much run on time and are quite reliable. I have no problems with them at all.

I don't buy my tickets on-line in France.

Trains generally run on time. The more time you spend riding the train, the better you will understand it is not always clockwork. 18 minutes should be sufficient time to change trains at St Pierre des Corps.

Trains do not run on time, they run on rails :-)

18 minutes is actually rather long. Shows how SNCF still cannot do efficient scheduling. But anyway, if a delay makes you miss a connection you just take the next train. If the next train is one with compulsory reservation (eg. a TGV).

What trains are you taking? If you are going to/from Tours know that Saint-Pierre-des-Corps is just in the suburbs of Tours.

They try to, but stuff can happen at any time. If all runs on time, 18 minutes is plenty of time.

It's Germany you sadly need to worry about train times

Yes, they run on rails. Unless they are Monorail trains.

Thank you all for your responses.
Wengen - I'm taking a lot of trains - Paris to Bayeux, Bayeux to Pontorson/Mont St Michele, then to Amboise via Rennes, Angers St-Laud and St-Pierre-des-Corps. On to Sarlat-la-Canéda via Saint-Pierre-des-Corps and Bordeaux Saint-Jean; then to Avignon via Toulouse Matabiau and Narbonne; and finally to Nice on INOUI. I booked all, with a great deal of difficulty, in December. SNCF-Connect kept trying to take me back to Paris.

SNCF-Connect kept trying to take me back to Paris

There's a reason for that. The Man in Seat 61 website explains it well. Out of curiosity, when is this marathon train trip?

SNCF-Connect kept trying to take me back to Paris

SNCF basically exists for the benefit of two classes of people:
- Parisians. They want fast trains to get to their weekend homes. For them the TGV exists.
- Poor people. For them the TER trains exist TER trains are not supposed to be actually useful. You should suffer when you are poor.

All the rest are assumed to always take their car everywhere.

Ok. It's a bit of a caricature. But people who follow the railway scene in Europe keep looking at France and shaking their heads in disbelief at the level of incompetence, and downright passenger hostility often displayed.

CJEAN-Next month

Ok. It's a bit of a caricature.

Here's a caricature that's a bit closer to reality.

Parisians who have the means to own a weekend home never take the train. A weekend home is typically situated far from any train station, so they opt for their cars, just like everyone else.

As for the few Parisians who still manage to afford life in Paris, weekends away are not in the cards for them. When they do get the chance for a holiday, it’s usually in their aging vehicles or with a low cost OuiGo TGV.
The majority of the major TER regional train lines that once served holiday-goers have vanished, the SNCF has channeled its resources into TGVs since the 1980s. The only trains still running are the regional ones, funded by the respective regions.

I am getting a picture of French railways as being like a Dominatrix. No wonder it has locked in disciples.

Without checking my notes and pictures, I can say most of the trains I use are the regional ones, obviously. They themselves are very good relative to punctuality , reliability, fast, cleanliness, service and all that. A couple companies I can recall off hand are: Champagne-Ardennes, Nord Pas-de-Calais.

Very few tourists, if they're to be counted as riders relative to other riders, all of them locals, use these trains. However, they do fill up, at least 70% if it's a late afternoon dep, say Charleville-Mezieres to Paris or Bar-sur-Aube to Troyes,

Riding these local regional trains gives you a good glimpse into seeing who goes where, in which direction from Paris, north, east, south, west. when you are the solo foreign visitor heading out on the train's route.

True, one of the couches my reserved seat was located in this train's decor seemed out of the 1960s, certainly out of time upholstery still very comfortable and clean. No doubt very old in style, so what?