New trains will link Geneva, Lausanne to Paris in 3 hours
Next stop, Paris: 3 hours 4 minutes by December 2012
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss rail company CFF and the French SNCF will spend CHF100 million, they announced Wednesday 16 February, to buy 19 new TGV high speed trains that will be put into service in December 2012.
The buying bonanza will result in 27 daily high-speed connections between Paris and Swiss cities.
Geneva will have nine daily TGV runs to Paris instead of the current seven, making the trip in 3 hours 5 minutes, thanks to higher speeds for the new trains. Zurich to Paris will be cut by more than a half hour, with the trip taking 4 hours 3 minutes.
The new trains are being purchased by Lyria, the joint-venture between the Swiss and French rail companies. Lyria in 2010 saw its earnings rise by 17 percent to CHF340 million. The company carried 40 million passengers, some 40 percent of them on international trains.
Basel to Paris will also become faster, just over three hours, which is expected to give airlines serious competition for this run.
Paleo special trains, Geneva-Lyon cuts, Migros 2 for 1
Port Elizabeth, South Africa group Ubuhle plays Tuesday night at Paleo
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – Regional trains between Geneva and Lyons are out of service from Monday 19 July to 30 July, due to French rail company SNCF repairs. Buses are replacing the train service. The buses from Geneva are behind the Cornavin station, at Place Montbrillant. Details: phone 166 (CHF.50/min) for an automatic message, and if you need to speak to an agent: 0900 300 300 (CHF 1.19/min) from Switzerland.
Paleo: 20% discounts on train tickets
The CFF is working with the Paleo music festival to cut car traffic to Nyon during the festival, which runs from 20-25 July, by offering rail tickets at a 20 percent discount. RailAway prices, if you have a half-price card: round-trip (return) in second-class, Geneva-Nyon CHF6.60, from Lausanne, CHF11.20, from Fribourg, CHF25.60.
Paris, France (GenevaLunch.com) - Saturday 3 July was the first day of student holidays in France, the day when all eyes turn to the South. But 40,000 travellers, including students, were stuck when lightning struck a train station in the Paris suburbs and immobilized trains leaving from Austerlitz station in Paris. The SNCF announced late Saturday that trains were gradually being put back into operation.
Links to other sites: CNN, Le Point, France (Fre), Reuters (Fre)
Check the service before heading to France
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The French rail strike is not expected to affect trains between Switzerland and France this weekend 9 to 11 April, but if you’re traveling to France, plan ahead.
“The situation is getting better,” says a spokesperson for the SNCF, the French rail company
The Swiss rail system, the CFF, posts latest train service interruptions or slowdowns: check regularly for updates on Switzerland-France traffic.
And for all the information within France see the SNCF Transilien site.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The French SNCF railway workers are on strike, with numerous trains between Switzerland and France not running Wednesday 7 April. Media predictions earlier were that one in four TGV trains between Geneva, Lausanne, Basel or Zurich and Paris might not be running Wednesday, but in the end TGV service is very restricted. There are considerable slowdowns on non-TGV routes, reports the CFF Swiss rail company.
The CFF posts latest train service interruptions or slowdowns: check regularly for updates on Switzerland-France traffic.
The SNCF site appears to be more optimistic about the number of trains running: check the train where you hold a reservation if you’re scheduled to travel today.
Eurostar, the operator of high-speed trains through the Channel tunnel, was ordered by French President Nicholas Sarkozy to resume regular service by Tuesday 22 December after he met with Guillaume Pepy, the head of the SNCF, the French national railways operator. The French president also demanded that appropriate information be supplied to passengers, in a communique 21 December.
