France TGV Fast train question

TGV trains also belong to SNCF, which is the national rail operator in France.

What it means in practice is that you will transfer from an SNCF-owned TGV (high-speed) train to and SNCF-owned regular / local train to do the part of your trip from Dijon to Beaune. (Since the TGV doesn't stop at Beaune.)

Thanks Kim!

Where are you seeing this btw? Because on the SNCF site this is just a TER train. SNCF does not call their own trains SNCF trains. Something tells me that you are trying to book this through a third party.

Yes. The trainline.com. There’s another one that “the man in seat 61” links to.

Try SNCF Connect, you can purchase your tickets and get an assigned seat directly from the company. Remember Trainline is a travel agency. At times I have found their tickets to be higher or that they could not provide the same routing as SNCF. FYI, we do make use of Trainline if it suits our needs.

Ed,

I went to the SNCF website. What is odd is that they don’t list one option to travel (I’d prefer) that the 3rd party does? Why would that be, do you think? One thst bi

One option that both show that I would consider traveling has us changing trains in Dijon, but there is only a 10 minute layover. Do you think that is enough time?

I find SNCF Connect so badly designed (and I pretty much know what I am doing !) that I almost always use Trainline.

Context: I have lived here for 17 years and don't have a car - so I buy a decent number of train tickets.

I can't imagine how someone with relatively little experience buying French train tickets could have an easy time with SNCF Connect. Whatever fee Trainline charges would be well worth it to me for the much easier customer experience.

Thanks Kim. I will probably just go ahead and book with trainline, the option I want. Are you able to choose your seats?

You can't choose a specific seat in second class TGV, only a type of seat. Options are side-by-side or around a table. Side by side is more comfortable.
Regional trains such as the one from Dijon to Beaune are unreserved.

changing trains in Dijon, but there is only a 10 minute layover. Do you think that is enough time?

It would depend on the actual platforms needed to make the connection.

Some platforms at Dijon are REALLY long.

But usually actual real national rail companies won't sell connections that can't be made by most people.

Lilu348:

Go to this website: https://www.sncf-connect.com/en-en/. The SNCF.com website doesn't work for me. I just ran the schedules for August 3, 2023 and I came up with a couple of direct trains from Paris Bercy to Beaune. It looks like any other trains are going to require a connection.

Ed,

Are those fast trains, though? My understanding is the TGV on departs Gare de Lyon.

Indeed the direct trains are not fast trains, so they end up taking longer than the TGV to Dijon + regional train connection to Beaune.
And Paris Bercy station in Paris usually takes a few min longer to reach than Gare de Lyon.
I would personally go for the TGV + connection, it saves at least 1 hour and perhaps even 2 hours (haven't checked schedules).

Perhaps the German website is more convenient (for all over Europe) https://www.bahn.com/en

The German railways (DB) website is indeed a great resource to check timetables - I use it all the times even in France. But it cannot sell you tickets for journeys that don't "touch" Germany, so it is not useful in the OP's case.

Trainline actually once was called "Capitaine Train", and was started by a group of French programmers who were frustrated by the bad SNCF booking website. It got popular, then got bought out by the UK company "Trainline" and rebranded.
But a lot of French indeed use it. All my French colleagues do this.

I however always booked my trips to Paris on SNCF connect, as I got used to the site, and as I always travel Business 1ière I can (and want to) pick my seat.