Time between train changes..

For most train stations I have seen, 5 minutes is usually enough time. I haven't been to St. Gervais, but I suspect 13 minutes is more than adequate.

Train changes depend on two things:

• The time you need to get from train 1 to train 2

• The possibility that your first train is delayed.

With most train stations you don't need more than 3-5 minutes to change trains if you're not loaded with luggage. With regard to delays you can't predict them but you can check ahead of time how much time you'd need to wait for the next train in case you miss your connection. If there is a connecting train every 30 minutes or so I'd risk a short connection. If I'd have to wait for a couple of hours I'd use a larger buffer of at least 20 minutes for a train change.

ALso always check the boards not just rely on the ticket info when running to catch the train. The nice thing is trains usually wait for connecting trains if they are popular routes.

I have to agree with Tom. But part of it depends on from what platform to what platform. Howerver, almost any train change is doable in 13 min. As long as you know WHEN you will come into the station, and are at the end of the car, luggage in hand, ready to get off. Then, if it is not a simple cross-platform change, you find the steps to the tunnel, and quickly follow the herd to the next platform, you will not have a problem. Even if you are a little slow, the conductor is on the platform watching, and will not allow the train to leave while people are waiting. In most cases, in my experience, if an important train is a little late, they will hold all of the other trains to allow you to make the connection.

We have made a train change where we had to move over several tracks with a 4 minute change time. The conductor on your first train can tell you which track your train will leave from. You can most always confirm that with another employee on the platform. That saves time going to look at the board.

hmmm, I can't remember the last time I connected from a delayed train to one that had waited. But I can tell you a lot about missed connections because trains did not wait. And I'll never forget the icy tone in a comment I got at a train station in the Netherlands: "we never wait for a train from Germany". That was a missed connection with a train that had 11 min delay and caused us 1 hour delay to get to Schiphol.

But if it's just about getting from one track to another 13 minutes is more than plenty. Even at a huge train station like Dortmund at rush hour with hundreds of drunken soccer fans in your way (like the one that didn't wear anything but his shoes, a bottle of beer and a team scarf wrapped around his mid section - and I really did not want to bump into HIM) it took us no more than 5 minutes.

There are two major stations at Lyon - Part-Dieu and Perrache. Make sure that your connection isn't from one to another as it's a good half-hour by tram.