Train travel from Paris to Brionne--help!

Hi Ilana,

If the train were a TGV, I would recommend that you purchase in advance so as to make a reservation. As the train you will be taking is a regional express train, do not worry about it. I checked the SNCF website and you cannot even make a seat reservation for this train, so there is no value in purchasing your ticket in advance. Just show up at the train station and purchase a ticket. Which departure do you plan on taking, though? I want to make sure you will have enough time to get to the station.

By the way, you said that you found "a train" that takes you from the airport to Saint-Lazare. I hope that you meant two trains, as the Paris Transport Trip Planner advises you to take RER line B, switch at Gare du Nord and walk through the connecting tunnels to Magenta station where you will catch RER line E. Get off at the last station, being Haussmann-Saint-Lazare and then walk the short distance to the station. Total estimated travel time is 49 minutes, presuming you can make the train switch in just four minutes, which I think is pushing it.

Thank you SO much for the information!
I will plan to buy a ticket at Saint Lazare. Do you by any chance know if it is possible to purchase tickets at the station in Brionne? If not would it be advisable to go ahead and buy a round-trip ticket in Paris?

Yes--I'm aware of the transfer; thanks for alerting me to the short amount of time!! Do these trains run relatively frequently/would I be able to wait and catch another one to take me into Saint Lazare? I'm hoping to make the 5:13 train.
Thanks again so very much--you don't know how helpful your advice is!

Ilana,

You should be able to purchase your ticket (and reservation) for the trip from Gare St. Lazare to Brionne when you arrive at Paris/CDG. There's an SNCF ticket office in the airport, in addition to a separate office which sells Metro tickets, etc. Check the parisbytrain.com website for details.

When you arrive at CDG, there are several methods for getting to Paris and Gare St. Lazare. The easiest would be to take the RER "B" to Gare du Nord and then transfer to the Metro. You could also take the Air France Bus to the Paris Opera and then access the Metro from there; I prefer the RER option.

However one thing to note is that if you want to use the automated machines in the airport to buy a ticket for the RER, you'll need one of the new "chip" credit cards.

If you know what date and time you'll be returning from Brionne to Paris, you should be able to buy your return ticket at CDG as well.

Happy travels!

Ilana,

Any one of the train stations in France can book a train trip for anywhere in France (so long as there is a ticket booth there). You can also book train trips for most of Europe from a major train station anywhere in Europe. Even if there were no ticket booth at the Brionne train station, you can just buy one from the conductor.

Yes, the next RER train would come by just 5-10 minutes later, so don't worry about it, just make sure you allow yourself extra time to change trains.

Thank you to everyone!! You've given me the exact information I was looking for; thank you for sharing.
One last question; do all RER line B trains go to/through Gare du Nord, and do all RER line E trains arrive at Haussmann-Saint-Lazare, or will I have to make sure that I'm on a specific one?

Coming in from CDG, no problem....all RER B's go to/thru Gare du Nord. The problem comes when you're heading back out to the airport....you need to take the RER B-3.
And yes, all RER E's go to Haussmann-St. Lazare....just make sure you don't get one going in the opposite direction! Their destination signs will read "Haussmann-St. Lazare" since it's the end of the line.
You can click here for Paris RER and Metro maps (on the left.)