My husband and I recently bought a ticket on Trainline to go from Séte to Charles de Gaulle airport. There was one stop to change trains in Nimes Pont du Gard station. We got on at Séte, counted the stops to “Nimes” on the electronic board inside the train car. There was only one “Nimes” stop listed. We got off the train and ended up in the station in the city instead of the new (as of 2019) Nimes Pont Du Gard station. We did not know there were two stations in Nimes. We grabbed a taxi to take us to Nimes Pont Du Gard for €40 !!! When we arrived at Nimes Pont du Gard station, we had missed our train. There were no ticket counters or help anywhere, only machines to buy a new ticket from. We have investigated on the web and through Trainline and cannot figure out how we went wrong. After much agonizing, we eventually walked up to the platforms to find some train personnel to whom we explained our situation, who let us onto the next train to complete our trip to CDG airport. We lost 2 hours but thought we were going to end up missing our flight from Paris the following day because we could not find any way to buy a new ticket at the Nimes Pont du Gard station to get to CDG. We still can’t figure out where we went wrong!!!
Posted by
Ontario, Canada
6325 posts
As you now know, there are 2 stations in Nimes, and you got off one stop too early. If you had used the SNCF app, or Google Maps while on the train, you would have seen this in advance. Or if you had looked at the Journey Details on the SNCF website before starting out, you would have known that there were 2 stations. I'm not clear as to why you were unable to use the ticket machines. Were they out of order? Did you not know that there is an option on the machines to change the language to English? There are plenty of videos that show how to use ticket machines. It would seem that a lack of advance research was the source of your problems. I'm sure it was a stressful situation, but next time you will be better prepared.
Posted by
Chicago
1648 posts
Trainline is an agency. You may find it preferable to use an official app rather than third party.
I have found the SNCF app easy to use. I think some of found it less so, but it might be worth exploring for next time. Smaller train stations are often not "manned" - in France and elsewhere. \
Sorry for you disruptions and concern over connections. I just had a "delightful" rail disruption in the UK, I can empathize!
Posted by
Paris
10874 posts
It wouldn't have made any difference if they had purchased their tickets from SNCF. If they weren't aware there were two Nîmes stations, they weren't aware there were two Nîmes stations.
Trainline does show you your progress and which stations you will stop at. If you had thought to look at that element of information, at least you might have noticed ahead of time that there are two different stations for Nîmes and could have found someone to ask for advice.
I am sorry this happened to you. It's an understandable mistake, but that doesn't make it any more fun when it happens. I am glad you finally made it to your destination.
Posted by
northern CA
3104 posts
Wow, that was a PITA, huh? And the added stress of having to get to a flight didn't make it feel any better, for sure.
This kind of story comes up pretty often in the forum, actually.
Maybe the takeaways mentioned, less diplomatically, above do make sense:
• Do your research using some 3rd-party sites but buy your tickets directly.
• Scroll ahead on your phone's map while in progress to get a sense of what is up ahead.
I would add that it's a good idea, and chance to start a chat, to inquire with someone near you if the next stop is XX, in your case Pont du Gard. Even in franglais this can be comforting. "La prochaine est Pont du Gard, oui?"
This time of year the bus can be really hot, so I'm glad to learn from your post that there's now a train stop as a possibility, thanks!
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Thank you for all the replies, even the snarky ones! I could not work the SCNF app very well and google escaped my aged mind. It was probably the heat ( about 98° in the train). There was no a/c in the first train and we were stuffed like cattle, standing room only. We did ask the conductor before we got on the train. Guess we missed something, probably not specific enough. Main thing is, we got there in the end and the train reps at the Nimes Pont Du Gard station did help. In any case, thanks for the dialogue.