Train timetables -- conflicting information!

Posted by Tom (Savannah, Georgia, USA) on 06/14/10 07:25 PM

I'm attempting to book an August 15th train ticket from Paris to Basel. The premier website for timetables, bahn DE, shows a departure at 12:24, which changes in Mulhouse and arrives Basel at 16:08, which is ideal for my purposes.

Unfortunately, that site doesn't sell tickets.

However, when I go to TGV-europe.com or related sites to buy the tickets, no such train departure is listed. The same earlier or later trains are listed, but not the 12:24 that I need.

What gives? Any solutions or ideas? (I've already pulled all my hair out trying to figure out these sites!)

Thanks.

Posted by Lee

Lakewood, Colorado

06/14/10 08:20 PM

19275 posts

If you are willing to go an hour earlier, 11:24, there is a connection bookable on the Bahn website for Paris to Karlsruhe by TGV, then an IC to Basel Bad Bf. If you only book to Basel Bad Bf, you can get a Europa-Spezial ticket as low as €39 (but I see the lowest prices for that connection are already sold out for that date. €99 is all that is left). As long as it is only to Basel Bad Bf, you can book it on the Bahn and take the streetcar to Basel Bahnhof SBB. Or you can book the trains to Basel Bad Bf and book another ticket for the IC from Basel Bad Bf to Basel Bahnhof SBB for €3.

As to why the 12:24 train doesn't show on the TGV website, I don't know. Maybe it's because it is only TGV to Mulhouse and regional train from there. It does show on (Ugh) RailEurope, which has a limited selection of trains. Maybe the schedule is not completely loaded yet.

Posted by Christophe

Copenhagen, Denmark

06/15/10 01:24 AM

265 posts

When I use the official french SNCF site: www.voyages-sncf.com, the trip you mention on 15 August at 12:24, with change in Mulhouse Ville and arrival in Basel (Bâle in French) at 16.08 comes up and is bookable. the PREM fare is 44.40 €, it says few seats left at this price. This site is in french though. Try again!

Posted by Tim

Minneapolis, MN, USA

06/15/10 08:15 AM

8700 posts

Like Steve, I've written many posts telling people that tgv-europe.com is a SNCF site and has the same timetables and fares as voyages-sncf.com. That has always been true--until now.

As Christophe said, the 12:24 train appears on voyages-sncf.com for 15 August. However, like you said, it does not appear on tgv-europe.com. (To make things even more confusing, it appears on tgv-europe.com for 16 August but not for 14 August.)

The weekend of 14-15 August is during the height of vacation time for many people in France. It's purely a guess, but there may be extra heavy demand for that train and there may be an allotted number of tickets for tgv-europe.com booking that differs from the number of tickets allotted for voyages-sncf.com booking. If you can handle the French, book your ticket on voyages-sncf.com.

Posted by Lola

Seattle, WA

06/15/10 03:04 PM

17448 posts

If you are willing to depart Paris earlier (10:24) you can take a faster route to Basel with no changes, and buy the ticket on the SBB website for 83 CHF. However, you'll have to pay extra to have the ticket shipped to you---I'm not sure how much extra. But it may be simpler than dealing with TGV and its idiosyncracies.