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Heidelberg to Strasbourg on a France Strike day, TGV after Karlruhl - options?

Posted by on

Hi,
I am travelling with my 2 adult children from Heidelberg to Strasbourg, via Karlsruhe. I have reservations at 6:43 pm on IC 2183 and TGV 9570 on the date of May 7, which is a "Strike date" per SNCF website. When I email DB customer service they say they cannot confirm this far out which trains are affected. And in another search I saw that TGV trains, even those mostly travelling in Germany can have French conductors / crew? which means they may participate in the strike.

Fortunately, with an afternoon departure we have time to shift to another way to travel, but we do need to get to Strasbourg that evening. So if the train is cancelled, what would people recommend?

  • Take a couple German trains from Heidelberg to Offenberg and then a taxi to Strasbourg?
  • Rent a car and drive? (Prefer not to drive, but maybe it's easy and a lovely drive. I'll have phone data plan so I could navigate.)
  • Uber it
  • Take a train somewhere along the river, close to Strasbourg, and a boat to Strasbourg?

I'm open to any ideas, of reasonable duration, since this will be a Plan B.
Thanks in advance.
Pete

Posted by
8889 posts

If your TGV is cancelled, and you probably won't find that out until the day, take German local trains Heidelberg - Offenburg - Strasbourg. As Offenburg - Strasbourg is a joint train, it will probably be running through to Strasbourg.
If not, it will definitely be running to Kehl. Kehl is the last station in Germany before the rail line crosses the Rhine into Strasbourg. Kehl is effectively a suburb of Strasbourg, only 6 Km from the centre. You can get a tram from there into Strasbourg centre, or a taxi would not cost too much.

DB info at Heidelberg would be able to give you advise on trains, and probably convert your ticket if your booked train is cancelled.

Posted by
21194 posts

The TGV to Strasbourg will continue on to Paris. The train will have a German crew up to Strasbourg, but SNCF could still cancel the train if there is no crew to take over in Strasbourg, or if they cannot get the train to the point of origin, which is Frankfurt, on that day.

But I would go ahead and book it. If the train gets cancelled, there is a regional train to Appenweier 35 minutes later that connects to a local SWE train to Strasbourg getting there at 9:34 pm.

Worst comes to worst and the SWE cannot get to Strasbourg, you get off at Kehl and get a local bus over the river to Strasbourg or a taxi failing that.

A number of years ago, while staying in Kehl, I went to Strasbourg for the evening for dinner, ended up staying too late to get the last train back to Kehl, so I took a city bus to the river and walked over the bridge to Kehl and my hotel. The Rhine is not that wide there.

Posted by
5697 posts

What is your train date ?? Your post shows "May 7" which is past.

Also note that you will be able to know whether your train is running or not by AT LATEST 5 p.m. the day BEFORE the train date -- and recently SNCF has been giving more notice.

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