Paris to SJPDP - Train Delays due to Strikes and Protests?

[erskinet]

We are traveling on April 27 from Paris to Bordeaux and April 28 from Bordeaux to SJPDP. Has anyone been experiencing and train service disruptions due to the rotating strikes and protests? Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Rick M]

The short answer is YES, there have been significant disruptions to the TGV service for the past several months. Whether you will be affected by this is anyone's guess at this point. Pay attention to the SNCF website starting a week before you go. In most cases, the cancellations are "scheduled" by the strikers, and you will have at least a little warning. On most strike days, they have not cancelled all of the trains, just some of them. In a worst case scenario, you may have to reschedule your travel to another day, or book a flight to Biarritz instead of using the train. In the best case scenario, your travel is unaffected. You will not know until just before you go.

Not to worry. You will make it to SJPP. It just might be a little bit complicated if you find your train cancelled have to find another train at another time, or find an alternate way to get down south. Once you get to Paris, walk into the SNCF office at the airport, and they will reschedule you if it becomes necessary. The good news is that you seem to have a little sway space in your plan - well done! With luck, it will all go according to plan. Without luck, you have an unplanned night in Paris, and take the train straight to SJPP the next day.

 

[Former member 107885]

The short answer is YES, there have been significant disruptions to the TGV service for the past several months. Whether you will be affected by this is anyone's guess at this point. Pay attention to the SNCF website starting a week before you go. In most cases, the cancellations are "scheduled" by the strikers, and you will have at least a little warning. On most strike days, they have not cancelled all of the trains, just some of them. In a worst case scenario, you may have to reschedule your travel to another day, or book a flight to Biarritz instead of using the train. In the best case scenario, your travel is unaffected. You will not know until just before you go.

Not to worry. You will make it to SJPP. It just might be a little bit complicated if you find your train cancelled have to find another train at another time, or find an alternate way to get down south. Once you get to Paris, walk into the SNCF office at the airport, and they will reschedule you if it becomes necessary. The good news is that you seem to have a little sway space in your plan - well done! With luck, it will all go according to plan. Without luck, you have an unplanned night in Paris, and take the train straight to SJPP the next day.

I have been using SNCF quite a lot this week and generally echo above. Thursday was a big strike day and plenty still ran!

I did find the SNCF website quite quite tricky and misleading in a few ways that I will illustrate below.

1- So Thursday was a big strike day. I was planning to catch a train Nice to Barcelona. 3 sectors. 1) Nice to Marseille, 2 Marseille to Nimes 3) Nimes to Barcelona. Going into SNCF website night before it told me my train was cancelled. A few hours later I double checked by individual sector and sector 1 was still operating and whilst sectors 2 had been cancelled, a very small reroute meant getting to BCN was doable! So if you have a multi sector journey, check each sector and piece your own itinerary together!
2-Many trains ran but not their full route. So if a train was planned to start at A and end at Z it may have run from F to T. SNCF website didn’t really effectively reflect this on its site however this page, where you just need to put your train number in was very helpful!

https://www.sncf.com/en/booking-itinerary/search-train-number

The trains that did run, and that was the overwhelmingly majority, were excellent in both quality (I only used TER and not TGV) and punctuality with the exception of getting stuck in a tunnel for over an hour!

 

[UUKatherine]

Last week I had a planned overnight in Bordeaux en route from CDG, which turned out to be a mistake because there was vandalism on the tracks between Bordeaux and Bayonne shutting everything down completely. Mistake #2 was relying on SNCF original estimate of noon uptime and rebooking in afternoon - which was also canceled. At that point I had missed out on the possibility of booking a bus or rideshare - all sold out in the rush of stuck people. (Flixbus and BlaBlacar). Another couple of pilgrims and I essentially bribed our way (cash is king!) onto a bus which was sold out online but had a few seats from no shows. When we got to Bayonne we had missed the last train and we were going to share a taxi but SNCF was picking up the taxi tab for about 2 dozen pilgrims who had missed the connection as well. This was all the day before a planned strike which as mentioned above tends to have more workarounds. My lesson learned was in these circumstances just get to the final destination using the earliest means available.

 

[tpmchugh]

We are traveling on April 27 from Paris to Bordeaux and April 28 from Bordeaux to SJPDP. Has anyone been experiencing and train service disruptions due to the rotating strikes and protests? Thanks in advance for your help.

A good Camino buddy arrived in Saint Jean today from Paris. Never mentioned any problems and from his photos, all looked good. Buen Camino

 

[ilbestro12]

Any word on air strikes ? Like air traffic controllers or Air France? I fly via Paris the 28/29th then on to Biarritz. Train was my backup plan. I cannot read French but this website suggests a single airline Veuling strikes on April 28, 29, 30, and May 1st. I cannot find whether Air France will join.

Transport : liste des grèves

Transport : toutes les grèves en cours et à venir avec les perturbations

www.cestlagreve.fr

 

[Former member 107885]

Monday, 01 May is planned to be a very big strike day but as yet I think detail is unknown. There is a general ‘try not to travel on or around that date’ from the UK Foreign Office, but nothing more that I can see. Strikes that affect air travel always impact the day before and day after the strike. If you leave USA on 28th I would be reasonably hopeful you would be ok but if is a fast unstable situation!!

 

[Natique2]

What happens if the strike occurs the day I am supposed to arrive in France from USA? Do most airlines in USA cancel and try to find another flight for you?