Hello - my husband and I are flying into Charles de Gaulle airport on August 23 and had train tickets booked from Montparnasse train station to St Jean Pied de Port (our staring place for the Camino De Santiago). The train was cancelled because of the following reason “departure requirements not met”. Does anyone know what that means? Do I have to do something to meet the departure requirements or is this the actual train being cancelled ? I can take a later train but I first need to know if I am doing something wrong. I don’t want a new train reservation to be cancelled again due to my error
Posted by
Paris
9816 posts
On what site did you buy your tickets, and for the train at what time ?
Posted by
OP
124 posts
I bought the Tix on SNCF site
Posted by
OP
124 posts
The train that was cancelled departed Montparnasse at 12:08 on Wednesday Aug 23
Posted by
Chicago
385 posts
Without you saying what train you were on, all we can do is confirm what the current schedule is.
sncf-connect shows 2 departures:
7:58am - 1:40pm
2:03pm - 7:43pm
trainline says the 12:08 train has been cancelled, but the 2:03pm train is still bookable.
There is a train station in CDG, might be the best place to try and get some clarity before you
head into downtown Paris. Since it's just a day or two out, I would not buy a new ticket. Most
likely you can be put on the 2:03pm train.
Posted by
Duluth 🛶
6934 posts
There is a train station in CDG, might be the best place to try and get some clarity before you
head into downtown Paris. Since it's just a day or two out, I would not buy a new ticket. Most
likely you can be put on the 2:03pm train.
I would agree. In fact, I probably wouldn't even bother checking at CDG, but would just head to Gare Montparnasse and show your ticket there. Believe me, no national train system is going to leave a customer stranded without recourse. I'm sure you will be able to get on the 2:03 train without any problem.
Posted by
L'Occitanie, France
10327 posts
You can alter reservations through the app, but this is an instance where you shouldn't have to pay a penalty. You will do best in a ticket office, though waiting until Wednesday, all seat reservations could be gone. Seating chart for the 14:00 train 1st class is fairly full, about 75%. We don't have seating availability for 2nd class.
If you do wait, don't waste your time fiddling with the CDG train station. Just get over to the Montparnasse station and try to get seats on the next train. Even if they can't issue a reservation, they'll probably put you on the next train and have the controller (conductor in English) get you placed. It's going to be a boiling hot day, the peak of this very bad heat wave, so everyone will do the best they can for you.
FYI: SNCF will be sending you an email telling you to bring a sufficient supply of water with you. Not an easy start after an overnight flight
Posted by
Paris
7027 posts
Have you been able to sort things out?
Posted by
Chicago
8198 posts
Clearly a case where they should have just booked people on the cancelled train onto the next one. I wasted most of a day dealing with a German train strike keeping us from getting from Amsterdam and our pre-paid apartment in Berlin. Worked it out in the end, but it took hours on line to get it done as things kept changing constantly. Feel your pain. Hope it has worked out.
Posted by
L'Occitanie, France
10327 posts
Though the OP hasn't returned, here's a little update on what happened this week with trains in this SW region, Nouvelle Acquitaine.
My husband who was staying just south of Bordeaux, was expected to return home yesterday, Thursday. The heat was so high, that all trains were cancelled. Now that the heat has dropped, all trains are sold out, today (Friday). To get home, my husband drove with friends to Paris (7 hours) and will take a TGV home from Paris today.
Jolui, Any information to add on how the heat affected your corner of the world? And, I do hope the OP comes back to update us.